Prior Engagement
by LittleLadyRedfox
Summary: When there was Royal fame there came royal responsibilities. Responsibilities that requires sacrifice and sometimes pain. Sometimes though those responsibilities turned into passion, into love. Follow Princess Heartfilia and Prince Dragneel through their adventure of surprise and spontaneity.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I do not own anything in the Fairy Tale Universe. The plot is my own, but that is all. I also do not own the art. I would site it, but I found it on GOOGLE. :) I thought it went well.**

Summary: When there was Royal fame there came royal responsibilities. Responsibilities that requires sacrifice and sometimes pain. Sometimes though those responsibilities turned into passion, into love. Follow Princess Heartfilia and Prince Dragneel through their adventure of surprise and spontaneity.

AN: This is an alternate universe fic where their wont be magic and some people don't know each other or aren't related. (i.e Lisanna, Elfman, and Mirajane). It is going to mainly be rated M because of language in the beginning, but there will be more lemon once the story picks up momentum.

For those of you who messaged me and started to follow me after my last story, I want to thank you. I am not going to lie I forgot that I had put a preview to the newest story that I wanted to write in Iron in the Stars and sort of shrugged it off. It was someone who recently messaged me that put my ass in gear and because work is super slow so what the hell. I will do another chaptered story. Not too sure how long it will be, but I will promise at least one chapter per week and that I will finish this.

Prior Engagement

Chapter 1: What is Expected of you

"Do you really think this is a good idea? He is going to be fucking pissed when he wakes up." Gray laughed silently walking as quietly as he could into Natsu's bedchambers. Sting fought his laughter knowing he would wake the sleeping prince if he were too loud. "I don't think I can be quiet. I think I'll have to wait in the hall." Sting was never one for stealth unless he was in a fight.

"I need your help with this. You know his routines as well as I do. The first thing he is going to want to do when he gets up is make his way to the bathroom for a piss. We need to make it so when he gets up he has one hell of a surprise. I hope it goes so far that he doesn't make it in time and pisses himself. If he doesn't I am going to feel like we failed." Gray whispered harshly at him knowing he couldn't back out. This little trick had to be intricate. "Besides, we brought the wheel cart with us to make it faster." That was a relief actually. There would be no way that they would be able to put all of the cups and the bucket of flour in the room otherwise.

As soon as they made their way into the bathroom they unloaded the large bucket of flour on top of the door balancing it perfectly so it would stay still until the door was pushed frantically open. "Make yourself useful and start putting these cups on the right side of the room making your way to the bathroom door. I will then help you to the bedroom door. I need to secure this so it falls in the right direction." Sting started to laugh noisily and Gray put his hand over his mouth to keep him from being too loud. "Shh dumbass!" Sting gave him a dirty look, but started to do what he was told anyway.

"Yeah yeah, I understand." Gray watched him as he moved to the right side of the room, placing cup after cup on the floor slowly filling them half way with water. "This is going to take so much time! He is going to wake up well before we are done. Stop dicking around with that damn bucket and help me out you lazy ass!" He continued doing what he was instructed, but he kept looking at Natsu to make sure he wasn't waking up. They would be dead if the Prince woke up before they were finished. They might be his guard, but that didn't mean that he wasn't well trained in a fight.

"Oh stop worrying so much. He is a heavy sleeper; he's not going to wake up until we forcefully wake him. Just do what you were told. I will help you as soon as I know this is going to work in here. It'll only be a moment more. I'm finishing it right now." Once he was done talking he made a victorious sound quietly before walking over to Sting. "Okay lets get this done so we can wake him." They silently created an arrangement that worked well together. Sting would put the cups down and Gray would put water and some soap in it. Once they finally made their way to the door they gave each other looks of exhilaration. They looked over the room pleased with their work of art. Natsu's bed was in the center of the room and all around his bed was cups half filled with water and soap. When he woke up and went to get out of bed he would be surrounded by little traps.

"You never did tell me how you were going to wake him." Sting looked over at Gray knowing he had more planned to this prank. Grays smile widened as he grabbed his bag from the bottom tray of the cart that was now pushed outside of the room. Gray was usually the one that woke the sleeping prince, but today would be special. Today was the day that he would finally win their on-going prank war. It started back when they were kids in the castle walls. Gray's dad was head of the army at the time and Natsu took a liking to the small boy that was always hiding away. Gray wasn't allowed to be around for the army and guard training sessions and he wasn't suppose to be too close to the royal family because he didn't hold high enough status so he would hide and stay out of the way. Fortunately for Gray, Natsu didn't follow the rules and decided to be his friend. They've been pretty inseparable ever since.

He thought back to their first prank. The first day he met his best friend. He was hiding in the foyer tucked behind a chair next to a plant so no one would notice him, but Natsu did. He was walking with his mother and their guard. "Mama, I think the plant needs to be outside." Child Natsu looked him dead in the eyes after turning away from his mother. When his mother looked towards the plant and her eyes fell on the small child she knew what her son was doing. He was trying to get the boy to come out and play. "Mama, don't you think that the plant is far too skinny for it's own good. I think we need to feed it."

His mother smiled at him. His kindness was not lost to her. "Well, I think you are right. Why don't you run and get something to feed the handsome little plant. I will stay here and wait for you." Natsu's smile nearly split his face and he ran from the room. He was only gone for a moment and Gray was so nervous to see what he would bring him. He was hungry after all. Usually he would not eat all day when he hid like this. "Natsu!" His mother's shocked and angry tone didn't register in Gray's ears as Natsu ran over to Gray and shoved mud in his face. Gray was furious and swore that he hated the prince. The declaration made the prince sad and he apologized repeatedly saying that he thought it would be funny and he just wanted to make a friend to play with that was his age and not a guard. Of course Gray accepted his apology after all he knew he was going to be in the castle quite a lot with his father's position and would love to be friends with everyone there. Like the prince, he had no friends either.

Gray smiled at the memory and looked over at Sting. "I brought some water balloons. I kept them in the bag because I wanted the water in them to stay nice and warm. That will help make him need to piss." His memories cleared his mind as he started to pull them out of the bag and started to hand a few to Sting. "You ready?" Sting nodded his head and the fun began.

"Time to get up Natsu!" He screamed loudly and threw a water balloon right in his face. As soon as it smacked him on the forehead it exploded and got everything soaking wet. Natsu's eyes shot open as if he was under attack, which he was and he jumped out of his bed and landed on the floor before thinking about his actions or being aware of his surroundings. His feet landed on the plastic cups full of soapy water mixture and he fell on his ass.

"What the fuck!" He finally looked over his surroundings and his face went red. Before he could say anything about his situation another water balloon smacked him in the head. "Gray! Sting! I am going to kill you." He went to stand up, again getting pelted with a water balloon, and lost his baring a second time on another set of cups. "What the hell are in these cups? It can't just be water; it's slippery as hell. Come on guys I gotta pee!" They both laughed at him as he continued falling his way to the bathroom. "I. Hate. You. Two." He finally made it to his bathroom door and pushed it all the way open when the large red bucket of flour fell from it and covered his whole body and the floor with it's white substance. "Seriously. What the fuck is wrong with you? It is going to take me so long to wash this off."

At this point he didn't think he could get any more upset. That was until a water balloon smacked the back of his head. Whirling around he let out a growl and went to attack without thinking. He jumped up and went to run to his bedroom door to beat the two to a bloody pulp, but just landed face down on the wooden surface under his feet. Sting and Gray were panting on the hallway floor, their faces bright red with tears rolling down from laughter. This worked much better than expected and they couldn't contain their composures.

"What's so funny this morning gentleman?" Her voice made their backs rigid and the hair on their bodies stand on edge. There was only one person that could put any one of them in their place and that was the great Titania. She stopped right behind them and stared down at them waiting for them to stand and address her with the respect and honor she deserved. After all she was the Grandmaster. She ruled over them and trained Natsu herself in battle. She looked over them into the room and her face hid her smirk and quiet laughter. She found it funny all right, but for reasons the men didn't understand. "I'm glad that you like to play together. Seeing as you did this together you can clean it up together. Natsu get ready and meet me outside near the training grounds. They will stay behind and make sure this place looks better than when you went to bed. Wont you boys?"

"Yes Ma'am." She walked away and Natsu smirked at them.

"Serves you right dickheads. I will get you back as well I hope you know." The men grumbled in protests as Natsu went back to his bathroom and closed the door to make himself presentable for the day.

"Good morning Erza." Natsu said as he walked over to her with a large smile on his face. They may have pranked him, but over all he won. They were going to be cleaning that mess for a while. He even made sure to knock some of the picked up cups down off the cart on the way out. Even though he kept walking away he could hear Gray swear at him because of it. Honestly, his prank was very well put together. He had to give him that, but that was way too much prep time and clean up time. He basically just gave himself far too much work.

"Good morning Prince. I thought that we would practice with swords today." Natsu groaned as she polished her sword. He was more of a hands on fighter and hated to use weapons. They just didn't work with him. "You will be just fine. Don't whine. You are a proud man and eventually you will be a King. So act like it." She never shied from putting him in my place like a lot of the castle staff did. That was one of the things he loved most about her. Well, that and that she was completely fearless. She's easily taken on twenty men in battle and won. He was a witness to it so he knew with fact that her legends were genuine. She was a pure beast. "Ready?" He sighed, but agreed to the practice.

"Let me grab my sword." Looking over her long sword he decided to use the same weapon. He pulled it off of the wall and yielded it in front of himself ready for her to advance. She always swung first. It was the confidence in her that always allowed her to remain calm, focused, and win every time. Overall, Natsu has never won a fight against her and he was glad he never would have to truly fight her. Her sword connected with his with one swing and he felt his feet slide back against the dirt.

"Focus!" Her words were sharp and he had to pay attention to not get himself stabbed in their practice session. He swung the second time and she easily blocked him. They started a dance of swords allowing sparks and sounds surround them in the heat of battle. Her strength surpassed his and one of her hard strikes pushed the sword away from his body into a tree. The bark flew from the deep cut is subjected the tree to and he had to do a barrel roll to dodge her sword from coming down on him. He never feared his life with her practices, but damn if she wasn't well tutored in the art of battle and war. He ran over to the tree repeatedly dodging every strike of her blade and slide on his knees in the grass, staining his clothes, to rip the sword from the tree. He raised the sword above his head in time to forcefully block her sword swinging down and allowed his knees to carry the weight of the sword as he pushed his body further up.

The Prince was a better fighter than a swordsman and knew that if he wanted to win against her he would have to get that sword out of her hand. He twirled his body on the ground and kicked his leg out as he swung his sword at her face. He knew that she would block and unknowingly get knocked on her ass. He was so excited that he might win this time against her. The guys would never believe him! As his leg swung closer to her body he watched as she ducked her head and bypassed his sword and swing it at his neck forcing him to fall backwards and miss her legs as he fell straight on his ass. She straddled his hips and put her sword against his neck. Damnit!

"That was clever Prince. Some people would have fallen for that and you would have had a chance. Unfortunately, I am not some people. I was born for the life of battle and can suspect every chance of attack. You did well." She got off of him and he was livid with himself. This has been such a horrible day and it wasn't even ten yet. "Why don't you go on up for some breakfast. You must be famished."

"Yes ma'am." He bowed to show respect in battle and she repeated the action. However, her head stayed bowed as he raised his and walked about.

"Natsu?" He turned around to see her concerned face. "If you need to talk later or need another go at a fight please don't hesitate to call on me. I hope you understand that I am here for you." His smile made his eyes wrinkle and as he moved closer to her as she tensed. That didn't matter to him though, he knew that even though she was a warrior she still craved love and family and she was easily his family. His arms wrapped around her and he pulled her into a tight hug.

"Thank you Erza. Do you know what father wishes to discuss with me? He even shortened my tutoring session today so it must be important." She grimaced at his question. She knew all right, but she couldn't tell him. He wouldn't like the news.

"I believe that is a discussion between the Prince and the King, Natsu." He frowned at her response, but understood it was official royal business. He nodded and walked away to have breakfast with the rest of his guard. His thoughts ran away from him as he walked to the kitchens. He hated to sit in the formal dining room and his guard knew this. They've been with him for as long as he could remember so they were the only friends he had. He sighed stressing over the day. The conversation with his father was not one he was looking forward to. His whole guard has been acting secretive with him and tense.

"It's about time you showed up, did Titania kick your ass so hard you forgot what time breakfast was?" Gajeel smirked.

"That's not very nice Gajeel, Erza is far to respectful to be the reason he is late, he was probably dicking around this morning before their practice." Rogue smiled over to Natsu innocently, but Gajeel boomed out laughter.

"Fuck you guys, it's been a horrible morning. Gray and Sting decided to play a prank on me this morning and it slowed my whole day down." He scowled as he grabbed his plate of food and started shoveling it in his wide mouth.

"No way, they actually did it?" Gajeel's shocked face looked over to the Prince. "Where are they now? Did you murder them or something, I haven't seen them either?"

"I wish I did, but no. Erza found them before I could and made them clean it. Idiots are probably up there doing damage control." Everyone in the room laughed at their misfortune.

"Serves them right, I told them it was a stupid idea anyway." Rogue pushed himself off his chair and grabbed his notebook. "Alright your Majesty, you have History, Math, and English today. I will be escorting you to your tutoring. Are you ready?" After grumbling he got up and followed Rogue out the door.

"Good morning Gildarts." Rogue was always too polite for his own good. He was easily the most polite one in the group.

"Good morning gentleman. Late again hauh, what trouble did you get into this time Natsu?" Gildarts watched them as they sat down. He noticed that Natsu was distracted. He must have known that his conversation wasn't one he was going to be tolerable to.

"It wasn't my fault, I swear, I'm sorry for being late. Gray and Sting decided to play prank wars with me this morning as a wake up call. It pushed my schedule back a little. If you need someone to hit over the head, they can be found cleaning up my bed chambers." Gildarts chuckled.

"You boys are insane." He grabbed a chair and pushed it to the table in front of Natsu and Rogue. "I'll leave it in your hands buddy, what do you want to go over first?"

"Which is the hardest? I could use a nap." Before his sentence was even finished Gildart's book struck Natsu's head.

"Don't be an ass. Let's do History first. We will go over the battle of Drazonia and Celeste." Gildarts knew that bringing up a battle, even if it was a hundred years ago, would excite the Prince. He knew that this was a battle he knew about well enough seeing as he was a crown Prince of Drazonia.

"Can you tell me how it started?" The answer, however, he knew he was going to get from the prince was the constructed story by king's past, but no one knew if it held any merit because the Kings of Celeste stated the same story in reverse.

"Infidelity. The King fell in love with the princess in Celeste and decided that he would remarry after his wife passed away. However the Princess was unfaithful with another. This caused rift between the two close kingdoms and tension rose pushing the limits and becoming a fight that tore both kingdoms apart, even today."

"You are correct, however, there is no evidence to show this is accurate. I personally think there was more to the story." Natsu's attitude greatly increased as Gildarts took his mind off of the talk and onto his studies. The rest of the afternoon went by without a hitch.

"You must be going now kid, the King will be expecting you any moment." He gathered the books as Natsu got up.

"Thank you Gildarts, I will see you tomorrow. Please enjoy the rest of your day and let Cana know I said hello." He didn't wait for a response and he ran to his father's office.

As he knocked he thought about the one thing he was dreading. He was sure he knew what this talk was about. His older brother had it as well. He was seventeen, soon to be eighteen. He was coming of age to find a wife. His brother knew whom he wanted to be with since he was young so their wedding was a breeze. On the other hand, Natsu was the younger son, so he was sheltered in the kingdom. He never loved another. The closest to love he had to the opposite sex was to Erza, who was his closest female friend. She was a sister to him though.

"Natsu, finally, how was your tutoring son?" His father hugged him at the door and pulled him in pushing him into the chair in front of the large desk.

"It went very well, father. What did you wish to see me about? Could it not wait until supper tonight with the rest of the family?" His father frowned.

"Natsu, you know as well as I that you're birthday is in a few short months. I know you know what that implies. It is governed by the rules of royalty that you are to be wed while you are the age of eighteen. We have a little more than a year to wed you." Natsu frowned. He was correct in his assumption.

"Father, does that mean I can search for love?" His father sat down on the corner of the desk fiddling with a pen.

"Actually, I spoke to an old friend, his eldest daughter is turning eighteen in the summer so I figured we would have a summer wedding. He needs a strong Prince to take her hand in marriage because he has no sons. You fit all his needs." His face paled. An arranged marriage? He didn't want that.

"Father, I don't want that. I want to find someone to spend my life with." He went to get up, but his father grabbed his shoulders pushing him back down.

"Natsu, listen. This isn't a discussion that we are debating over. This is great for our kingdoms. Both of my sons being kings to separate kingdoms is a wish come true. His daughter is gorgeous, well educated, and well liked. Plus you get along with everyone so I have absolutely no doubt this will not work out. You will make this work Natsu."

"Father, I will not be going through with this!" He's never raised his voice at his father, but this was too much. He didn't want to marry another without love. "This isn't fair and I will not be doing it. I will marry for love and only love."

"This is not up to you. You will love her and you will bridge their kingdom to ours. There is a lot at stake for this wedding. Stop being so dramatic son. You have plenty of time. I've talked to her father and you guys will be meeting in October after he is back from traveling." October? It was the end of March.

His father sighed and walked over to the window. "This is what is expected of you son, this discussion is over." Natsu didn't even have anything else to say. He was furious. He never thought that this would actually happen to him. He knew his father would force him to marry, but he had believed that it would be to a woman of his choice. He walked out of the room closing the door behind him. He paused for a moment to take a deep breathe before running to the stables.

"Woah, crazy, what are you doing?" Cana took care of the horses. She was born within the castle and once she was of age she started to work in the stables with the horses she loved. Her father was Gildarts, Natsu's personal tutor and a second father figure, not to mention a personal friend of the king and had some great hookups to make sure this happened.

"Cana, I need to get out of here. Can you grab my horse please?" Cana looked at him skeptically for a moment.

"What's wrong hun, you're never like this. You know I can't let you go anywhere without at least one member of your guard." He growled annoyed at his life in the current moment.

"They will be here in a moment I am just ahead of them, I won't leave without them." She didn't buy it, but she helped him get his horse anyway.

"Please don't do anything stupid Natsu. Don't you dare leave the castle!" He nodded knowing full well that he was lying. He had to leave, just to get away for a moment to think without everyone around him. He was actually surprised that anyone in his guard hadn't found him already. "Don't be gone too long."

As soon as he was on the horse he made his way south following the path he's taken a million times with his guard. It was the only path he knew he wouldn't get lost on when he turned back. He rode off as far and as fast as he could for as long as he could. Time escaped him and he allowed his mind to completely clear.

"Natsu, fuck, slow down!" Gray was catching up to him. Shocker. He was always near him some way or some how. "I let you go this far, but we need to get back before it get's dark." It was against his best judgment, but he slowed down to allow Gray to be right next to him.

"Where is everyone else?" Their horses trotted down the trail slowly at this point.

"Their horses aren't as fast as yours and mine, they are probably about twenty minutes behind us. You realize you left the path, correct? You aren't in the protection of your kingdom anymore." He smiled at Natsu, not to scold him, but to try to make him smile.

"Thank you for letting me, I suppose. How long were you been riding behind me?" Gray frowned at him.

"You really didn't know I was behind you? You need to be more aware of your surroundings. We know you better than you think, we knew you were going to want to run so we were already on our horses before you got to the stables. Do you really think Cana would have just given you the horse without us? She is pissed at you by the way. She said you owe her some high class whiskey for you lying to her." Natsu chuckled knowing full well that he was telling the truth.

"So you already knew?" Gray frowned and nodded.

"It's not that bad Natsu, we will go with you." He was going to continue until an arrow made it's way into Natsu's left shoulder.

"Fuck!" Natsu yelled as he fell off his horse. As soon as he landed on his back the impact forced the air out of his lungs and he coughed to get his breathe back. He looked around trying to find where the arrow came from and found a group of bandits making their way over to them. Gray was already off of his horse and in a battle stance. They were easily out numbered.

"Now now boys, just empty your pockets and we won't kill you." The large man jumped off of his horse and walked over. The other men that were with him circled them.

"Go fuck yourself, I'm not giving you anything." Gray's face paled. This was not a time for Natsu to act like a tough shit. They both drew their swords ready for a fight. Instead the man laughed at them.

"Alright, I'll kick your ass then." Natsu and Gray were back to back as the men jumped off their horses and came in closer.

"This doesn't look good Natsu." They swung their swords at their opponents, but there were just too many. While they blocked one hit the other men pushed the swords out of their hands. They were both knocked out within moments.

"Natsu! Gray!" Erza was the one who noticed them in the bushes. "Damn, wake them with some water."

"Not again!" Natsu jumped up as the water hit him and then groaned. He grabbed at his shoulder knowing full well there was still an arrow in it.

"Relax Natsu, we need to find somewhere with medical equipment before we pull that out. Gray what happened?" He looked down knowing he couldn't protect his best friend.

"We were ambushed on the trail, they didn't know who he was, and they were just out for money." She nodded.

"Well that's good, it's almost dark and he shouldn't travel so far back with that wound let's finds some shelter."

**AN**I am working on CH 2 as we speak. It will be up by Christmas, if not sooner. I hope you enjoyed it, if you did or didn't let me know what you thought. I love to hear from you all. 3


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I do not own anything in the Fairy Tale Universe. The plot is my own, but that is all.**

Summary: When there was Royal fame there came royal responsibilities. Responsibilities that required sacrifice and sometimes pain. Sometimes though those responsibilities turned into passion, into love. Follow Princess Heartfilia and Prince Dragneel through their adventure of surprise and spontaneity.

AN: This is an alternate universe fic where their wont be magic and some people don't know each other or aren't related. (i.e Lisanna, Elfman, and Mirajane). It is going to mainly be rated M because of language in the beginning, but there will be more lemon once the story picks up momentum.

Prior Engagement

Chapter Two: The responsibility to your Kingdom

"Child, it's time to get up." Aquarius' voice rang out as she opened the drapes letting the morning light filter across the room. It was far too early to be up. Mornings were overrated. I groaned and rolled over to fight the light that attempted to force my eyes open. Even the damn birds were whistling their little happy morning songs. That's just obnoxious. I heard a hiss of annoyance knowing I had fucked up and pissed my senior lady in waiting off. "Lucy, I swear to all that is holy, if I have to tell you again you will not like what follows." Afraid of what could come from that I bolted from the bed.

"I'm up, I'm up" The noise was barely loud enough to hear the response, but it was enough for Aquarius to not threaten me again. Lucy watched as she walked into the bathroom to get her bath ready, hopefully with hot water and she smiled fondly of Aquarius. She had become her lady in waiting once her mother passed away. She was a close family friend and wanted to stay around for her to be a mother figure of sorts. It wasn't very common, but she had two ladies in waiting that served her. There was Virgo who liked to get her in trouble and Aquarius who liked her to be in trouble. They tolerated each other, but it was always a battle to see whom Lucy would obey more. Unfortunately for Lucy, she obeyed both of them because she didn't have much choice. They both had their kinks and if Lucy disobeyed either of them it was hell to pay.

"Good morning Princess." Virgo walked into the room with a large trunk. She smiled warmly to her.

"Good morning, are you getting ready for our trip to the estate?" Lucy and her guard always took a trip to her estate before it got too hot outside this year being no different. It was a family tradition where the men and the women in the family would separate for a short period of time and just regroup. Her and her mother would go together with their guard while her father and his guard would stay behind. She even touched up her estate to be exactly how she would love it.

"Your bath is ready brat." Aquarius said it with a smile and Lucy smiled back. "Oh, hello Virgo, I thought I heard your voice. Is everything ready to go for later?" Virgo told her that it would be soon enough and dropped the trunk in the closet getting to work on finishing up.

"Thank you Aquarius!" I went to make my way to the bathroom, but stopped once I noticed the strange look on her face. "Is something wrong?"

"I wanted to have a private talk with you, do you mind if I sit in the bath chambers while you bathe?" She had seen me naked more time than I could count and I knew she didn't feel shy about just walking in on me, so I took it as if she was asking me more if we could talk instead of asking permission to come in. I smiled at her and moved my arm towards the door to give her entrance before I could walk in. I followed her in and she closed the door behind us.

"Lucy, you know your father wishes to speak with you before you leave on your trip, correct?" I nodded my head. My smile dropped thinking about the upcoming conversation. I knew what it was about. My eighteenth birthday was in a few months and I was the only heir to my kingdom. The laws clearly stated that an unwed woman could not lead. It was a sexist outdated law, but it was one that stood strong. I would need to find a husband and my father was dropping hints left and right that he had found someone for me.

"Yes, I am aware of the conversation that will take place today and what is expected of me. What is expected for my kingdom." Aquarius smiled fondly.

"You are much more mature with every passing day, your mother would be beyond proud of you Lucy. I don't tell you enough how wonderful you are. Even if you are a spoiled little brat." We both laughed lightly. I felt a deep love for Aquarius. Hearing her say that meant more to me than I could even admit. "Well, I know you and that court official friend of yours read all that smut, but you know of sex and what is expected of you to produce an heir, correct?" My face turned to fire. We didn't read smut! We liked the romance novels that came up here and there, but she didn't have to point it out. Oh no, she wasn't going to have the talk with me about sex, right? She didn't even know it was possible for her face to get redder, but the deep red stain across her face and ears spoke volumes.

"I am a virgin, but I am not unknown to the male body. I do have friends that enjoy talking about their exploits. You included, may I add." I had to laugh when I noticed the tint covering her face now. That's right, pay back is a bitch. Then I was worried for my life when her angered sulk appeared giving her the appearance of villain worthy of taking out villages.

"Excuse me? What was that Princess? I think I misheard you." I stuttered to try and not dig myself a deeper grave when she splashed water into my face. "Any way, I just wanted to make sure you were entering into an arrangement you understood. You know that I am always here to speak to you or even hear you vent if you need it, about anything." She stood behind me for a moment grabbing the shampoo to do my hair. I loved when she did this. This was a mother daughter bond that gave me a pang of sadness that my mother was no longer with me. Aquarius could never take her place, but she sure as hell filled a void that the loss caused. "There was one other thing I wished to speak to you about. It's about your trip." She must have felt me stiffen. I was hoping that it wasn't being cancelled because of the upcoming conversation.

"What about it? Please tell me we are still going? I look forward to this freedom every year Aquarius; I don't want to miss it. I swear we will be careful." She placed her soapy hand against my mouth to stop my talking and I gagged as the soap made its way in my mouth. I washed off the soap from my face and glowered at her while she just smirked.

"Don't be so dramatic Lucy. You are still going. I just wanted to let you know that Virgo would be going with you and that I would be staying back." My eyes shot over to her, she always tagged along. Before I could ask however she continued. "I am going to be stepping out of my role once you marry. You don't need the two of us and as much as I love you kiddo, I want to have my old life back. You are in capable hands with Virgo. I am positive of her skill to take care of you. Besides, I like to watch her get you into trouble. I will still be lingering around, but I think it's time I focused on my own life and husband." I smiled at her.

"Of course. I do hope we can remain close like this. Promise me that we will not loose contact with each other." She smacked me in the head.

"Of course we won't brat, now finish up. You have a lot to do today if you want to get out of here on time." With that she left the room allowing me my own time to get ready.

It didn't take long to finish my bath and get ready to make my way to breakfast. Once I walked into the dining room my guard smiled. "Sup Princess Buttercup!" Bickslow, my resident joker instead of one of my guard got up and messed up my hair making me swing my arms and hit his hand away from me. It didn't help that he towered over me. Evergreen also got up to hit him with her fan and force him back over to his chair.

"Did you sleep well, Lulu?" I looked over to my sassy brunette guard. Evergreen was more like a sister than anything, but hell, if I were in trouble she could turn into a cougar ready to kill in an instant.

"I did, thank you, how about you two?" They both nodded. They sat back down knowing I would be upset if they had waited to eat their hot meals on the account of me. I frowned as I settled in my chair. Two members of my guard were not present and that was not like them. Freed, my guard and tutor and Laxus, the grandmaster in charge of the rest of my guard were nowhere to be seen. As I nibbled on some fruit my imagination went crazy on where they could be. Bickslow chuckled at me, knowing very well how I can get wild with some of my crazy ideas.

"They are fine, stop putting their souls in dangerous battles." I smiled over to him laughing at the outrageous ideas he knew I had conjured up. He must have known how worried I was and knew not to keep secrets from me so he responded about their absence right away. "Laxus is talking with your father and you know Freed. He is off packing for the trip. Something about your studies not being interrupted while away. I think he has three full trunks just with books." My face paled. Freed was the smartest man in our country and probably even further out. His lessons were well respected, but they were also damn hard. There were plenty of times he would try to teach me mathematics or read me something from history and I would have no idea what he was talking about half way through the lecture. Luckily, he knew me well enough and could tell he had lost me straight away. There was a school for the well-respected and high society in the country that generally only men attended, however with my stature I was enrolled from the safety of my castle. Freed had graduated from there and they had begged him to become a professor. In a way he was, but a private one for me. To calm their insistent badgering he had written many lesson plans that the school used. Not many passed his lesson plans, but I could gladly say I was, however I was sure it had everything to do with the teacher.

"Oh, I see. Do you know when they are going to be done? I want to get my lesson plan done for the day so we can get going. The travel is going to take hours and I would like to get there before sun down, if possible." Bickslow's eyes left my face to look up and over to the entry way to the kitchen. Before I could turn my head to see what he was looking at one of the men I was inquiring about started to talk.

"Calm down Blondie. I just had to speak with the King about some last minute travel plans. Check in times and such so he knows that you are well, safe, and having a good time. Plus apparently a stow away decided to come. Something about best friends not be separated or some shit like that." Evergreen gave Laxus a stern look for his language in front of me. Apparently, ladies did not curse and he was rubbing off on me, according to her.

"What do you mean a stow away? Who is coming with?" He smirked at me, but did not answer my question. He just smirked, plopped in his seat and grabbed some bacon. "Tell me who, please."

"Sorry Princess, but that is classified information. You would have to beat me for it and even then I'm not sure if I would tell you." I grabbed my fork and smiled.

"Is that so?" He eyed my fork with a worried glint in his eyes. "So I either beat you until I get the information I seek, or I kill you and find out eventually?" I twirled the fork through my fingers. I knew I was making him nervous. He had trained me himself how to fight with and without weapons. Throwing knives were among those weapons. I was a deadly shot. If I wanted to I could throw the fork with my eyes closed and hit my mark with precision. I would never hurt him though, well, not hurt him enough where it would kill him at least. I would stab him a little to get what I wanted.

"I think you should aim for the throat personally." Bickslow nonchalantly stated while shoving a piece of toasted covered in orange marmalade in his mouth. I cocked my eyebrow at him and moved my arm back slowly making it look like I was getting ready to release my weapon of choice. The worried expression on Laxus' face turned into a fun challenging one. He knew I wouldn't hurt him too bad and he also knew that it would lead into a small battle between him and I. Now, this was the norm for us.

My father was the one who had me trained in all sorts of battles. He always stated that a leader must always be ready for battle. With themselves or others. They must never be unprepared. It was when I was about twelve that I started my training. At the time, it was with Laxus' father, but when he had gotten sick and unable to be the grandmaster at the time Laxus had taken over. I had been attacked in the market square and if it wasn't for my guard at the time, I may have not made it. I was defenseless at the time. I didn't know even how to punch properly let alone take on multiple assailants. Now however, I could take on anyone in my guard and most of the time I won. That sometimes included Laxus. We kept tabs. It was closer to fifty-fifty with him.

I noticed that he went to go speak to me, but before he could say a solid word I had thrown the fork and watched it as it slightly grazed his right cheek and slammed into the wall behind him. A thin trail of blood started to slowly make its way down his face and that's when his small smile turned into a full-blown face splitting smile. This would be fun. He slowly started to make his way over to me and I ducked under the table to get away from his grabby hands. I needed to take this somewhere else where there would be more space. I did enjoy our dining room very much and it would be a shame to destroy it.

I slid across the floor and under his legs before he could react. As soon as I got to the entry way I grabbed the wall and pulled myself up darting to the doors to the land outside. I made my way near the stables to a training area we enjoyed to use. Luckily I was smaller and faster than him because he was right behind me. As soon as I stopped he went to grab me, but I had ducked to evade his advance. I swiped my legs out fast enough to catch one leg, but not both. He was able to stop his fall and landed a push into my stomach instead. I twirled taking on his hit allowing it to give me the momentum in my twirl and take less of a blow. In doing so, I twirled around him and punched him right in the kidney. I heard him grunt in pain so I followed it with a swift kick to the swell of his knee. He fell down to one knee still coughing slightly.

"All right all right, I'll tell you. Damn Blondie, don't kill me." I grabbed his arm to help pull him to his feet and heard clapping in the background. I looked over Laxus' head to see my father making his way over to us. He had a proud grin on his face clearly because I had taken down my grandmaster.

"Honestly Laxus, between you and your father training my daughter I'm not sure if I will need you and the rest of her guard around. She can clearly take care of herself. Hell, I have seen you take down many men at a time, but she did that swiftly and efficiently. Darling, I may even have to put you in my guard. Would you be willing to protect your dear old dad?" I laughed at his comment and ran over to him wrapping my arms around his back tightly.

"Good morning father. I was just playing with Laxus. I don't think he was trying to win in the slightest. I have never taken him down that easily. I think he was just babying me. It's alright, though because he was just about to tell me about a secret guest who was coming with me to the estate." My father's face scrunched up in confusion for a moment before recognition shined in his eyes,

"I was unaware she did not know about her guest. Great, do not tell her. Allow it to be a secret a little longer. However my darling daughter, would you mind greatly if we could have some tea together in my study there are a few things I would like to discuss with you before you leave on your trip." I paused before taking his arm and following him to his study.

"But father, I am already late for my studies. I need to meet with Freed to go over todays lesson plans." He put his hand on my head and smiled warmly.

"You are a breath for fresh air Angel. Your reputation for knowledge and power precedes you. I have asked Freed to give you the day off. Mainly because I wanted to be selfish and have you to myself before you leave and because I love to watch him get that nervous tick when something he has control of changes. He agreed of course, but mumbled something about altering the entire lesson plan on his way out. I may have even heard him cry slightly. It was great." I wrapped my arm in his again as he led the way. Laxus was still standing there just shaking his head.

"I'll see you shortly Princess." I winked at him as we went back into the castle.

"I already know what you wish to speak to me about father. I know what my duty is to this kingdom. I have already accepted my fate. I do hope that you have found someone who will love me. I don't know if I could be in a loveless marriage." He frowned at my words and pulled me into a hug.

"My child, I do not like this law, but as a King it would be frowned upon to take matters into my own hands. I do wish however that once you are queen and before you bare a child I would love to see you demolish the law. I should have done it before you were born, but it is far too late now. There is another Kingdom not too far from us that I would love to build an alliance with. I do know the king on a personal level and have met his son a handful of times. I believe you and him will hit it off and I know he is the type of man that will cherish and love you the way you deserve. His father wants a quick wedding, however I believe we can settle for a Christmas wedding. This way you two have time to get to know one another. You know as well as I that if it does not work out than we can try a different approach." I poured myself some tea taking it all in. In all honesty, I was not expecting this amount of flexibility from my father.

"Thank you father, I will not disappoint you." He chuckled.

"Darling, there is nothing you can do that will disappoint me. Over anything else, I only want you to be happy. You are my life, my daughter, before you are the Princess of this country. We will do what needs to be done, but on our terms and no one else's. There was something else I would like to talk to you about however. I wish for you to come home early this year." I scrunched up my face in disappointment.

"Of course, what for, if you don't mind me asking?" There was sorrow in his eyes that made me cringe.

"I would like to hold a ball in the honor of your mother this coming July. It has been ten years since her death and I believe a charity ball in her name would be well warranted. Do you agree?" I felt the tears swell in my eyes making my vision blur. My mother was a hard subject. Her death was one full of heartache. Not just for the family, but for the country. She was well respected in our kingdom and the kingdoms that surrounded us. I don't believe I could ever do as much as she had, but I would surely try.

"That sounds amazing father. I do believe that is a wonderful idea. Perhaps we can make it not just a charity ball, but perhaps I can meet this prince that you have told me about there as well. Perhaps even in the form of a masquerade ball. I do remember that mother loved those. This way we can meet discreetly before the announcement of our engagement." At least this would give me an out if I absolutely hated him or vice versa.

"That sounds like a remarkable idea darling. Yes, that is what will do." I will contact the king and inform him of this. I am sure he will accept the invitation. In fact, perhaps I will invite a few different kingdoms just incase. This way if it doesn't work out you can have some other options." He winked at me and I felt my face heat up. Before I could complain there was a knock on the door.

"Ah, Freed! Right on time my boy! Are you ready to take Lucy from me?" Freed had stayed in the door way not wanting to interfere with our conversation.

"Yes sir, the carriage is ready to go. I expect that the weather will be in our favor and it will take about five hours to get to our destination as long as nothing unplanned occurs." He always had a flair for details, that is for sure, but I had to agree with my father. When something didn't go his way it was fun to watch him cluck around like chicken trying to make things right in his controlled world.

"Perfect, can you just give us one more minute and then I will let her go?" He nodded and silently walked out of the room. "Alright darling, I do hope you have fun on your trip. Please write to me. Laxus knows when he needs to check in with me, but hearing from you brings sunshine into my life that I long for." I kissed his cheek as he pulled me into a bone-crushing hug.

"I promise to write to you once a week father. I will miss you terribly, but I promise to keep Laxus and the rest of the guard in line while we are gone." We both chuckled at this as I pulled away.

"Just have fun I am already counting down the days I see you in June." I met Freed in the hall and we made our way to the awaiting carriage in front of the castle.

"It's about time Blondie, I sent Freed to get you like an hour ago!" I rolled my eyes at Laxus' obvious exaggeration. This was going to be such a long journey. This was the one part of this trip I absolutely dreaded. The traveling time was just painstakingly long. I sat in the carriage while the others rode horseback surrounding me generally. Before Freed jumped on his horse he popped his head into the window.

"I brought you something you may enjoy." He handed me a hard cover book with a weird logo on it. Once I opened it I was awed by the gold engraving of the title. Fairy Tail. I wonder what this story was about. I sat there eyeing the book waiting for us to go when I noticed that we were still waiting on Virgo. I pushed my head out of the window and called out to Laxus.

"Is there something wrong? Why haven't we left? Where is Virgo?" He rolled his eyes and made his way over to me so he didn't have to speak loudly.

"Your guest is late. We are waiting on her." I nodded accepting his answer and went back to looking at the book in my hands. It didn't seem to have an author credit or anything. I was just about to start reading when I heard my best friends voice along with my lady in waiting.

"What are you doing here Levy? Are you my surprise guest?" I was hoping she was. I could spend some time talking to her about the upcoming engagement and ball. She nodded to me and we both squealed in excitement making the men all cover their ears.

"Enough of that! Now hop on in you two, I would like to get out of here so we can get there before it gets dark!" They did as instructed and our trip began. I sat back, made myself comfortable and lost track of time talking to my best friend and catching up. I wasn't sure how she was able to go with her workload, but I suspected my father had something to do with it.

It took no time to get to where we needed to go. The carriage came to a stop and I waited for the door to open before getting out of my seat to take in the view of the estate. My great great grandmother had purchased this estate and the woman in the family have been maintaining it ever since. It made my breath hitch every time I saw it. The topiaries along the walkway to the front were well trimmed and lush with color. The walkway was laid with stone and led to a small set of stairs to bring you to the estates entrance. The entrance was warm and inviting. It was a stone vintage looking building with many windows, balconies, and plants to bring life to the estate. Off of the path led to other paths. There was a flower garden that usually brought exotic butterflies, a path that led to a fresh water stream that was most likely just becoming warm enough to play in and another path that led to the stables.

I couldn't wait to see everyone here. The head butler walked out of the home to greet us and I ran over to give him a hug not catching him by surprise, but instead making him give a hearty laugh. "Loke, it's so good to see you! How are you, how is your wife? How is Capricorn? How is Sagittarius?" He hugged me back for a moment before putting his hand on my mouth to get me to stop talking.

"It is as if the sun has finally shown on us with your beauty my Princess. We are all doing very well thank you. I know we are all very anxious to see you, but first thing is first and we need to get you settled in. How about you change into something much more comfortable and you and Levy can enjoy some tea. I will make sure that everyone will come over to great you." He looped his arm in mine not allowing me a chance to answer, instead pulling me into the house.

It didn't take long for us to sit down with everyone with some tea. "I'm sure I speak for everyone here, but Loke, do you know when dinner will be ready? I am starving!" Everyone nodded in agreement it was already starting to get dark outside and we had all skipped lunch opting for a late breakfast instead.

"Yes, I assumed as much. As soon as you came in I had Capricorn start to cook the dinner. Don't get me wrong he started your dinner yesterday knowing exactly how you enjoy your lasagna, but it should be ready to eat in about an hour. If you would like I can bring you something to snack on in the mean time?" My mouth watered at the thought of dinner.

"No thank you, I do not want to spoil my appetite when I know what I can be eating instead. I can certainly wait. How is Aries doing?" Aries and Loke have been together for as far as I could remember. She did the cleaning and laundry in the estate. I always missed them all terribly when we were away, but they were happy living here year round. They still went on lavish vacations and were able to be a family. They were my family and I made sure that the estate did not have any butler quarters instead we made sure that everyone lived in equal size bedrooms with their own bathrooms for privacy. We all ate together as well. We were certainly not the norm when it came to royalty and high society, but I believed in being close to the people I loved and surrounded myself with.

Loke was just about to tell us about his latest adventure to some island when there was a knock on the door. I wasn't the only one who looked confused, but my guard got around me in a defensive manner. I stood up pushing past them to look at the door while Loke opened it.

"Good evening, how may I help you?" I watched his eyes scan the area and he must have seen something because he darted out the door before allowing them a chance to respond. "What has happened? Is he all right? Please come in!" I watched as four people walked in, one of them giving a hiss of pain as they pulled him into the house. I ran upstairs to grab the first aid kit. I over heard Loke tell them to put him on the large table. Luckily we kept a few first aid kits around so I was back within seconds.

"We are very sorry to intrude on you like this, but he is wounded and it is our responsibility to make sure no harm falls upon him you see. I wanted to make sure we can go somewhere before it got dark outside and there are no inns near by." The red haired warrior had apologized while the other two men, who looked like warriors as well scanned the home. I could see the tense features on them as well as my guard and knew that if I did not intervene there may be a problem.

"Nonsense. This is my home; you are welcome to stay as long as need to for his recovery. It is going to sting getting that arrow out. We must clean it and wrap it up before it makes him ill with infection." I grabbed the red hair warrior's hands in mind smiling warmly to defuse some of the tension she had in her body.

"Pr – " Laxus was just about to call me Princess in front of the guests and I didn't want them knowing exactly who I was. If they have not bowed or addressed me yet there was a good chance they had no idea and I would rather keep it that way.

"Yes Laxus, great idea. Loke please prepare the table for a few more guests. They look famished and could use a nice hot meal before bed. Please tell Aries that we will need a few more rooms ready for our guests as well. Seeing as there are four of them I would like two on one side of the hall and the other two on the other side so they are with each other. Also please put them on the west side of the estate so they have more privacy. Seeing as he is your charge I am assuming he is of importance and I do not want you to stress about the safety at this estate. I will accommodate you to the best of my ability and if you need anything my guard will be of assistance as well. Please do not hesitate to ask for anything. You are more than welcome to stay for as long as necessary."

I watched Laxus frown and give me a glare. I understand the position I was putting him and the rest of the guard in by inviting strangers into the estate, but it was something about them that made my soul want to sing. I felt a piece of my heart pump harder with them nearby. I looked over at the pink haired man lying on the table and he was just staring at me as if I had two heads. He was very attractive. I could get used to him staying here.

Giving him my best smile I asked him, "do you like lasagna?"

AN: First and foremost I want to thank everyone who followed and favorited chapter one! I love that. It gives me a nice warm feeling for sure. Secondly, I'm sure you all noticed that I made Jude into a loving father. I want this to be a happy story for the most part. There will be drama and angst, but I don't want to make it seem that Lucy grew up unloved, because she surely did in the fic. 3

Also, Merry Christmas to everyone – or Happy Holidays – whichever you wish to hear from me. This is the first year of my life I am not having a holiday with my family and I have to admit that it is very hard. Not sure if I can do it again.

Okay I'll stop rambling. I need to start cooking anyway. All right, I have chapter three outlined and just need to type it out. I will "see" you guys next week.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I do not own anything in the Fairy Tale Universe. The plot is my own, but that is all.**

Summary: When there was Royal fame there came royal responsibilities. Responsibilities that required sacrifice and sometimes pain. Sometimes though those responsibilities turned into passion, into love. Follow Princess Heartfilia and Prince Dragneel through their adventure of surprise and spontaneity.

AN: This is an alternate universe fic where their wont be magic and some people don't know each other or aren't related. (i.e Lisanna, Elfman, and Mirajane). It is going to mainly be rated M because of language in the beginning, but there will be more lemon once the story picks up momentum.

Also to answer some questions from reviews, I'm not sure how long this will actually be. I have a story line in mind, but don't want to rush it. I have the outline done for six chapters. I also am not making Igneel to be old school Jude evil. He just had to be stern…Let's face it, Natsu is stubborn and shit needs to get done. Igneel is as much a loving father as Jude is in this fic.

Also if you haven't gotten the trend from my last story I like to switch perspectives. So this is a Natsu chapter and next week will be a Lucy chapter.

Prior Engagement

Chapter Three: Who is this golden haired angel?

"Do you like lasagna?" That voice. It could be compared to angels singing or bells chiming in the distance. It hypnotized me and I couldn't get enough. Maybe it was the adrenaline pumping through my veins, but it was like a spark was lit in me and I couldn't take my eyes off of her for a moment in fear that she would disappear. Was I dead? Was this heaven? No it couldn't be heaven, Gray was here. This had to be real life. I wanted to stand up and touch her. Her skin looked as if she was a porcelain doll and I caught myself trying to will my hands to stay down. Was that creepy? Was I being a creeper? Perhaps I should stop staring. It didn't dawn on me that I was being pushed down and not allowed to stand by Gajeel and Erza. I looked over at my guard surprised that they haven't announced who I was right away. I noticed a knowing glint in Gray's eyes that I would have to investigate more once I got the time, but right now certainly was out of place.

I realized in my creeper time that I haven't responded to her question. Was that even a question? Of course I did. "Yes, I love lasagna. Our cook Mirajane makes the best lasagna in all of Earthland." She had a playful shine in her eyes that allowed me to melt into her gaze. I had to get to know her. I wonder how long we could stay here.

"Well, you won't be saying that once you've eaten Capricorn's. It is by far the best! My name is Lucy by the way. This is Levy, Bickslow, Evergreen, Freed, Virgo, and that brooding man leaning against the wall over there is Laxus. Loke was the man that just left." Her smile warmed my heart and made me feel more at home than I have ever felt before.

"It is a pleasure to meet all of you. My name is Erza, this is Natsu, Gajeel, and Gray. I thank you for your hospitality and promise we will be out of here first thing." Erza responded before I had the chance and I growled when she said that we would be leaving soon. I didn't want to leave. I wanted to get to know Lucy first.

"How about that dinner? I'm starving. Let's get this arrow out of my shoulder so we can all eat." Lucy was looking right at me with a strange expression. Did she hear me growl? Gray always told me that my strange habit was weird, but it was just something I picked up on and never stopped. Oh well, hopefully she won't think I'm some weirdo.

I watched as she stepped over to Erza not showing an ounce of fear even when you could clearly tell that her stance was one of non-trust and defense. Erza was fierce when it came to protecting the ones she loved and I was proud of the fact I was deemed her family as she was deemed mine.

"Let me help so we can get some food in his belly." She smiled warmly to Erza forcing her defenses down. I've never seen someone do that with her and I was astounded. "I have a medical kit and we are all very well trained in first aid. Please allow me to help." She didn't let Erza respond, but just jumped right in.

"First thing first is that this is going to sting, quite a lot so you should perhaps bite on something." I watched as she looked around clearly looking for something, most likely to shove in my mouth.

"It'll be okay, just yank it out. I would like to eat, plus I can't really feel it anymore. These two have been kneeling on me for so long and it feels like my body fell asleep." They all looked at me in concern. Was it something that I said? Gray got off the table and stripped his shirt off. "Don't go stripping now!" I was going to say more, but he wrapped the shirt around the arrow and pulled up pulling the object out of me within seconds. I slammed my eyes shut and clenched my jaw, but as soon as it was out all I could feel was warmth around my shoulder. I didn't look at it, not that I even could if I wanted to with four heads blocking my view. Who was this green haired man again?

I could hear them speaking about the arrow. "It appears that it was laced with some substance. It does not appear to be poison, but maybe a hallucinogen?" I groaned. Great! Does that mean I am going to be seeing shit. Oh look at that nice dragon in the middle of the room. Is that tea he's drinking? Since when did dragons get all proper and shit? "It appears to have taken hold of him, his eyes have glazed over. It's best to disinfect the wound , close it up, and put some food in his stomach and allow him to sleep it off."

One good thing about the drugs was that I couldn't feel shit. They were cleaning the wound and bandaging it up and all I could do was find solace watching the dragon as it sipped its tea. I was a little bitter though because I was starting to feel parched and the fucker was not sharing with anyone. Hell, I didn't understand how no one in the room was freaking out. This angel lived with a fucking dragon. I looked over to her as she talked to, what was his name again. Oh yes, Loke. Loke looked as if he could be a mighty lion. I didn't like how often he laid his hand on her though. I would have to stop that right away.

I had to take a deep breath. What the fuck was I even thinking? It must have been the drugs. Lucy wasn't mine. Hell, I had a fiancé somewhere in Earthland that I was already sworn to. I felt a hand placed on my forehead. I made eye contact with Gray. When did he get a new shirt? I watched as his eyebrows furrowed. "He doesn't have a fever, but I've never seen him this quiet before."

"It's lack of food. I'm dying of starvation." Lucy put her hand over her mouth as a small giggle made it's way out. I felt heat in the pit of my stomach and wanted to hear her laugh again. Gray and Gajeel pulled me off the table and supported my weight as we walked to the dining room. As soon as the smell of Italian food hit my nose I was seeing stars. Good stars, not the ones that knocked you out. It smelled divine. I was placed at the end of the table and noticed Lucy was placed at the other end. I knew that this was a norm. Her being a Lady and me being, well a Prince, but that was my little secret, she didn't need to know that, but I was disappointed that I wasn't able to sit next to her. Maybe tomorrow when I'm not seeing weird shit I will place myself next to her. My guard will just have to play along.

Once the food arrived all of my thoughts disappeared and all I could think about was how good this lasagna was. Mavis, I couldn't admit this to MiraJane, but this lasagna was the best I have ever had. "Natsu?" Her voice sent shivers down my spine and I looked up to lock eyes with her.

"Yes?" Her smile melted my heart. I knew I was in way over my head and it was best for us to leave as quickly as possible because I had no idea how someone could have this type of hold on me in this short amount of time. We had met a half hour ago and I felt the strongest connection with her that I've ever felt before.

"What would you like for breakfast? Seeing as you are my guest I would like you to choose." That was sweet of her.

"How about French toast and bacon?" I watched as her eyes lit up. Apparently I made a good selection.

"That sounds amazing! That is what we shall have then. Now why doesn't someone in your guard follow Loke to your quarters for the duration of your stay? Erza, if you don't mind can you stay behind there are a few details I would like to discuss with you before you make your leave as well." I didn't want to leave, but I could feel my eyelids becoming heavier and heavier and sleep would be a greatness after such an adventure packed day.

"I would like to speak with you as well about some details regarding the duration of our stay, but if you don't mind I would prefer all of us to stay together, just as a precaution of course." I could tell that Erza liked Lucy, but was wary. It's natural. We didn't know each other. At first I though Lucy was going to put up a fight, but she smiled instead and asked Laxus to sit down and join them. He reminded me of Erza. Always tense and lingering behind his charge. I wonder if he was just as protective and what their relationship dynamic was.

"Very well." She glanced over at Freed as he pulled out a notebook. "This is my daily schedule. Even though I am on holiday my studies and training cannot be halted. I do not mind you staying for as long as you need to, in fact, I encourage it. I do love to meet new people. I imagine that you take his safety as strongly my guard takes mine so I propose that you seven work as a team, of course with your charge being main priority." She paused as Erza looked over at the schedule.

"This is an extensive schedule that rivals our charges. This works well for us, plus a little time away from the-" she paused for a moment "estate would do him good. Yes would it be alright if he joined you?" Damn, I was hoping to get away from my studies. "At what level are your current studies? Natsu is sharp, but needs a little guidance when it comes to his distractions. He get's distracted fairly easily." I heard Lucy giggle as she looked over at the green haired man.

"Freed is actually my tutor. He is part of my guard, but he also is the smartest man in our kingdom. Have you ever heard of Vineland University?" Erza scrunched up her face.

"Yes, that is an all men's school isn't it? It's very prestigious." Lucy had a look of pride on her face that made me smile for no reason besides the fact I wanted to be as happy as her.

"For the most part yes, however, I was an exception. I am enrolled there, but study from home. Freed writes many of their lessons and tutors me four days a week, Fridays being the exception. We are on a second year college level academic." Gray started laughing and I gave him a dirty look.

"Erza, he'll never be able to keep up. Natsu is, at best, borderline college level studies." I threw a piece of bread at his head angry that he made me sound like a dumbass in front of Lucy.

"Fear not, he is a remarkable tutor. If it weren't for him I would not be as advanced as I am. He is patient and knows exactly how to explain everything in the best way. I guarantee that Natsu will be in great hands." Her respect for her tutor was apparent and I looked over to the green haired man, which I unhappily still didn't remember his name, and noticed the blush on his face. "After lessons we like to do sparring to release some of the pent up energy we have from sitting for so long and then have dinner. Does that sound good to you?"

Erza glanced over to me, "yes, this sounds great. I do have to warn you however that Natsu has been sparring since he was a child and is very well trained in any art of defense."

Laxus got up and walked up to Lucy dropping his hands on her shoulders. I heard Evergreen and Levy giggle. "I have no worries, I have trained her myself and she doesn't lose. She can take anyone on and come out ahead. Now how about we all get some sleep. It's been a long day and we all could use the rest." It looked as if Erza wanted to challenge his statement, but decided against it. Loke stood by the door ready to escort us to our rooms. I waited to get up not knowing if my legs would support me or not. I took a deep breath before pushing myself to stand and was happy to know that I was a little dizzy and my vision blurred slightly from the extra movement, but I could walk on my own. This felt like the after affects of an Erza beating. I could handle this. We walked up the stairs and followed Loke to a hallway with many doors.

There were five closed doors in the hallway that I noticed. Three doors on the left and two doors on the right. We stopped at the first door on the left. "Lucy has decided that as his charges, his safety is the main concern. She had requested you are roomed here because it has much more privacy and all of the bedrooms in the estate has its own comforts. Each room has its own sitting area with a desk with stationary ready if you would like to write any letters, a large plush bed, a private bath chamber, and also freshly pressed pajamas for each of you. Aries does all of the laundry at the estate. In the bathroom you will find a chute where you can dispose of your dirty laundry and it will be returned to you tomorrow afternoon. There is fresh clothing for tomorrow sitting in the bathroom as well. I am sorry if it does not fit. We were not expecting any company." He paused for everyone to walk in to the bedchamber.

I was blown away by the elegance. This room matched my own in my very kingdom and we were all getting rooms such as this one? I wanted to know who this angel was. Was she in a court? Was she betrothed or engaged? There were just so many questions swimming in my head. It didn't help that the world around me was getting fuzzy and I was ready to go to sleep. I grabbed the pajamas that was on the bed and was surprised to feel how soft they were. I've never felt a cloth as soft as this one. I knew as soon as I was changed and in the bed that I was going to just pass out, but my head barely touched the pillow before I lost consciousness.

Gajeel ripping the blankets off of me making the cold air in the room offset my warm body startling me awake. "The fuck!" I growled rolling over trying to find a sliver of warmth and not finding any. "I swear I will have you killed!" It was a threat that held no merit because we both knew it meant nothing.

"Yeah yeah, until then you need to get up. We are going to be late for breakfast." I grumbled as I rolled out of bed.

"I need to shower first, I smell as if I have died. If you must go without me, I am sure I will be fine managing on my own." Natsu could tell that Gajeel wanted to protest. "I can take care of myself, besides if they wanted to harm me they could have done it yesterday when I was asleep. Go, I will be done shortly. Go give Erza a hard time for me." Gajeel thought it over for a moment and then finally sighed.

"Okay, fine. If you get hurt however it is your grave because Erza will kill you. When you get downstairs we will bandage your wound back up. Lucy said something about a salve she had to get for you this morning as well." I smiled as I walked over to the bath chamber and closed the door. The products in the shower were of high end and I relished in the luxuriousness that came with them. The smell was citrus and made me happy because it reminded me of the soaps that my sister used. I hurried with the shower not wanting to be too late. I threw on the clothes that were sitting on the counter and was surprised at how comfortable and non-formal they were. It was soft against my skin it felt as if I was wearing nothing at all. It was made of cotton and silk and flowed instead of constricting my skin.

I made my way towards the dining area when I heard an argument going on. It wasn't a loud argument, but hushed. I pushed myself against the wall, which in reality was silly, because they couldn't see me around the corner anyway.

"Lucy we don't know anything about them. Who they are or why they were over here. If your father knew I went along with them spending the night here he would have you back home in an instant. You know that as well as I. You are too important to be this careless." I was trying to remember the man's name that was speaking. He was the hulking one against the wall.

"I don't care Laxus. He was hurt and it was dark and getting cold outside. They clearly needed some food and a nice warm place to sleep." Lucy paused for a moment and then continued taking a deep sigh. "I can't explain it, but there was something about the pink haired man that told me he should stay. I got this feeling in my gut that it was important." I heard a grunt of clear frustration.

"Lu-Lu, it's just that you made this trip harder than it needs to be. With them here we are going to need to keep a better eye on you. That woman seems a little too fight happy and I don't want her to get the impression that she will live if she lays a single hand on you." The other woman was talking now. I didn't remember her name. They were wrong to think that my guard or myself would intend any harm to come to Lucy. She was an angel and I would do anything in my power to keep her safe. I shook my head and decided I didn't want to listen anymore. I went to walk away and heard Lucy talk one more time.

"You are my guard. That means I am the one who makes the ultimate decision, I am sorry if you dislike my opinion, but you will live with it. I love you all, but this is still my home and I am still in control." I smiled as I walked to the dinning room. I was proud of her. She wasn't afraid to stand up for herself. My guard was already there as well as the green haired man, and the little blue haired woman that was there last night.

"Good morning everyone." I greeted them with a smile and took my seat at the head of the table. There was bowl of fruit and a platter of French toast and bacon. I was pleased that they had listened to my breakfast request.

"Good morning Natsu, I trust you slept well?" I looked over to the green haired man and smiled nodding while I had a mouth full of bacon.

Once I swallowed I was able to answer his question more thoroughly. "Yes, thank you. This place is remarkable. Plus, these clothes are the softest I've ever worn." Freed laughed slightly. He was about to respond, but I watched as his eyes went to the door instead. I turned around to see Lucy and three others walk into the dining room. "Good morning Luce!" She gave me a dazzling smile and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Good morning, I trust you and your guard had a pleasant evening? Also, I'm sorry, did you call me Luce?" I panicked for a moment. Was she taking it as an insult? Should I have called her by her given name? Damnit, I'm and idiot.

"Yes thank you. I can only speak for myself, but that was the best sleep I've had in a while and the clothes were beyond phenomenal. I'm sorry. I do not know why I called you Luce. It just came out. I won't do it again." She walked over to me and placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Please allow it to again. I love it. I do agree with the clothes. Aries makes the clothes herself. She always uses the softest materials. I don't dress as proper when I'm here. Perhaps, I should be, but when I am here I want to relax and forget the real world and my own responsibilities. I hope that makes sense?" It made more sense than she could even imagine. I knew she came from high society as she was about the same age as me so I'm sure she was going to be getting married off to whatever asshole her father was selling her off too for profit. That's just how shit went with the high society. I sighed feeling bad for the prospect of love. I hope that her future would be better than my own and that her father was much more free to allow her to love like she deserved.

"When do we need to do our studies Luce?" I watched as the green haired man coughed politely to get my attention. I watched Luce smile over to him. For a second I was confused but then remembered he was also her tutor.

"Right after breakfast actually. I was thinking we can work on mathematics and literature today and then we will do some sparring outside." He paused to look over at Luce and then Erza. "Does that sound appropriate for you two?" Luce nodded as she cut a piece of her French toast and Erza looked like she was deep in though.

"Actually I thought about it more last night and I don't think Natsu should be sparring right now." I choked on my piece of bacon while I went to protest, but she gave me a stern look not to even try. "We should allow his shoulder more time to heal. One day is not going to be enough." She did have a point it was sore as hell.

"Levy are you going to join us in our studies?" The blue haired woman smiled softly and sighed.

"I wish I could, but I have so much work to decipher. I figured I would work on that while you were otherwise occupied. I was going to spend my day in the garden with some tea going over some of the tomes I need to translate. I figured we could have dinner and spend time with each other after however, how does that sound?" There was excitement coming from both of them that reminded me of when I got to spend time doing fun activities with my own friends. Mainly my guard. I was slightly jealous. It seemed as if she had much more freedom than I had and I envied it.

"That sounds wonderful. Erza?" Erza looked over at her.

"Yes, Lady Lucy?" She was always so proper. Even I could tell that Luce hated it.

"Please, its just Lucy, Erza. I was wondering if you would like to have all of your guard accompany the tutoring, or just one. If you would like to take a tour of the whole estate while we are in the study I can have Loke take you around if you would like." I can see her mulling it over. I could already tell you that if anything Erza would be the one who wouldn't leave my side. She was overly protective.

"Yes, that sounds wonderful. If Loke can take Gray and Gajeel for a tour and then they can do as they wish I would like to accompany you two. I would love to see where Natsu struggles in his studies to allow his tutor some chance of getting him caught up and I would also love to see your training grounds as well. Even though Natsu will not be sparring, it will be a good experience for him to watch others spar." All I could think about was how attractive it would be to watch Luce fight. I felt my blood boil at the thought of this angel taking someone down.

It was the longest tutoring session I've ever sat in. Scratch that, this was the hardest tutoring session I've ever had and every time I tried to distract Luce or Freed they would kill it instantly, which made Erza proud. She, of course, approved of the lesson plan stating it was well structured and easy to follow. I did have to admit however that every time I was confused, which was after everything he said, Freed took a step back and showed me a different way to do the equarions. I loved Gildarts. He was like a second father to me, but this was by far the most knowledgeable tutoring session I've ever had. Plus, I left remembering the material, which didn't happen to frequently.

We were walking out of the study; me and Luce trickling behind when I decided I wanted to have a chat with her about her perfect hospitality. Mainly, I just wanted to get to know her better and we couldn't do that with the guard always hovering above us. I grabbed her arm to pull her back gently but she gasped in surprise, which made Laxus turn around and growl at me. Huh, I thought I was the only one who did that. I wasn't exactly surprised when he grabbed me and pushed me against the wall to get himself between Luce, and myself but I was a little surprised when Erza decided to intervene.

Erza had her sword against Laxus' throat in an instant. There goes our happy little getaway. "Laxus, I demand that you let him go this instant!" That caught everyone off guard. The authority in her voice shook me to my core. It must have done the same to Laxus because he let me go instantly. I almost fell to the ground with the lack of pressure. Erza however did not release her sword. "Erza put it away. There is no threat here, just a misunderstanding." I watched as they locked eyes and I've never seen the look of submission on Erza's face before. There was something about Luce that screamed authority and I loved it. In another life she would make a great queen.

"I was caught by surprise when Natsu grabbed my arm. He did not harm me in any way, shape, or form. I was just not expecting the contact. I'm sorry you both are on edge, but I can promise on my end that I mean Natsu no harm and I don't think he means me any either. Is that right?" She locked eyes on me and I noticed the shine in them that made me smile.

"I would never allow harm to come your way, I swear it." Her look softened. "I am sorry, I was not thinking when I reached out to grab your arm, I just wanted to talk to you privately was all and I didn't think these two would allow it." I know I was right because both of them looked hard at each other and then back to us.

"You are right, I do not think that is a good idea. We will be with the both of you at all times." Thanks Erza for killing my hopes and dreams. I just wanted a little alone time with Luce.

"Erza?" Luce's voice was soft. She waited until Erza was looking at her again. "Do you think we could have a talk? We could take a walk in the gardens and have some tea and I do believe I have some strawberry cake for tea time today if you could join me." She paused before continuing. "I would like to clear the air with you. For some reason I feel a deep connection with you and would like you to relax a little while you visit." She looked over to me thinking it over. "We will make sure Natsu is with his other guards before we take our walk of course." That must have done the trick because Erza smiled and put her sword back in it's sheathe and nodded curtly at Luce.

"Are we not sparring then?" I was horribly disappointed that I wasn't going to see Luce spar.

"Perhaps we will tomorrow instead. I think we need a little more downtime today. Let's go find your other guards.

AN: I am debating whether I want Lucy to tell Erza or not and Erza keep the secret as well…. I didn't outline it that way, but I may make the adjustment…hmmm. What do you guys think?

I hope every one had a fun filled and safe New Years! I will see you next week

As always, thank you for all of the new follows and favorites.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I do not own anything in the Fairy Tale Universe. The plot is my own, but that is all.**

Summary: When there was Royal fame there came royal responsibilities. Responsibilities that required sacrifice and sometimes pain. Sometimes though those responsibilities turned into passion, into love. Follow Princess Heartfilia and Prince Dragneel through their adventure of surprise and spontaneity.

AN: This is an alternate universe fic where their wont be magic and some people don't know each other or aren't related. (i.e Lisanna, Elfman, and Mirajane). It is going to mainly be rated M because of language in the beginning, but there will be more lemon once the story picks up momentum.

Chapter 4: Getting To Know You – LUCY

I thought back to my conversation earlier with Evergreen and Laxus. They were right of course that we didn't know who these people were. I trusted them however. Maybe it was careless of me, but there was something about them that spoke to my heart. Better yet, to my soul. I felt like I needed Erza to understand me. To understand who I was and that no harm would come to Natsu as long as he was with me at my estate. Laxus, of course hated the idea. It would print a larger target on my back, but I felt that it was the right thing to do. I explained that it would be something I told Erza and only Erza. You could tell that she was prideful enough that it would be enough to allow her some space to breathe. There are plenty of clues in the estate if she wanted to dig into it further or hell she could even go to the library and find the family tomes and know from that alone.

"It's a beautiful day outside isn't it?" I tried to make small talk with her noticing that she was slightly tense. I hated for her to feel tense around me. I wanted her to be relaxed. I didn't have any female friends outside of the castle and perhaps this would give me that reality of having a non-biased conversation for once. I watched as she nodded curtly, but still didn't say anything. She was still a little quiet from our confrontation just moments ago. I looked behind myself and watched as Laxus and Evergreen trailed far behind us allowing us to have some privacy. I smiled knowing that they wanted their privacy as well. Nothing was official, but I was sure that they would be an item soon enough. I turned my head back around when I saw Evergreen smile at me.

I sighed; this was going to be a hard conversation. "Erza, please look at me for a moment." We paused on the rose garden path and I took her hands into mine. "I need for you to relax. I would love for you all to stay with us for awhile because I've never been able to spend time with people outside of my own home with the exception of balls and events, but you constantly being tense and looking for a fight needs to end. I told Laxus the same thing." She pursed her lips thinking her reply over.

"I'm sorry Lucy, I do not know you so I can not do that. The boys are much more relaxed, but I am the head of the guard and need to always look for a threat. I know that Laxus feels the same. He doesn't know us and we are a threat as well." She paused as if she was going to continue and then looked behind us at my guard. "They don't trust me as much as I don't trust them." I understood what she meant. It made sense. It was a sad fact that anyone could be deemed a threat. I personally didn't see anyone there a threat and instantly felt a bond with them instead as if they were family. I was just going to be blunt and to the point. There was no reason to play the back and forth game.

"Let's sit and have some tea. I would like to tell you who I am in the hopes that it will stay between you and I. I do not wish for the rest of your party to know. However, with your status, I believe you should understand the risks of Natsu being here and what troubles could possibly come, if any." She sat down with a look of interest on her face.

"I would enjoy that very much. It may calm my nerves even." Loke poured some tea and placed two slices of cake on the table as we sat down. Her eyes became large when she took in the cake. "This looks like a fine piece of art. It's exquisite." I giggled at her tone. I would have to remember that cake was one of her weaknesses. "Who are you Lucy?"

I took a bite on my cake relishing in the sweet flavor. I've always had a sweet tooth. "My name is Lucy Heartfelia. I am the daughter and only heir to King Jude Heartfelia in Celeste." Erza's fork fell from her hand at my confession.

"Excuse me, I think I misheard you. Did you say your last name was Heartfelia?" I smiled warmly at her.

"Yes, that is my name. I am Princess of Celeste. I take a trip every year to this estate and you happened to come right at the best time. A few hours earlier and I would not have been here." I paused to let her soak the information in. She had a strange glint in her eye that I wasn't expecting almost like she knew something I didn't. She gave me a large smile. One that looked incredibly beautiful on her.

"Your secret is safe with me Princess and I will make sure you will remain just as safe as my own charge. May I ask you something however?" She placed her teacup on the table and looked expectantly at me.

"Of course, ask me anything." I knew I had to be honest to her, to a fault at least.

"Why not tell the others? Natsu will try and be your bodyguard. He would love to protect a Princess. In fact I think it's a dream of his. Well, actually in the fairy tales I think he would rather be the dragon trying to steal the Princess, but you understand the point I am trying to make." I giggled thinking it over. I pictured a pink dragon chasing a princess across a field and nearly lost it.

"I do not wish to put unnecessary risk into allowing others to know this secret of mine. This holiday is important to me; you see this will be the last one as a single woman. I am coming up to marrying age and this time next year I may have a husband and a new king to my country. My father wishes to step down." I knew there would be sadness in my eyes at my confession. I wasn't ready to be married to a stranger.

"I understand, Natsu himself is dealing with an arranged marriage. His father wishes for him to be wed as soon as this winter. He didn't take the news very well, of course, which is why he ran off." I understood his anguish.

"Well, there is stationary in your room, please let his family know you are here and well and he can stay here as long as he wishes. Maybe an escape will be as good for him as it would be for me. Plus, I would love to get to know him. There is something about him that interests me. He is not like other men, that's for sure." I must have made a strange face because Erza had a wide grin on her face.

"I am sure his father will be alright with him staying here for a little while to get away. That will give Natsu some time to come to terms with his responsibilities." At this point I was all out laughing because she took the last bite of her cake and walked over to the tray to get more. "Where did this magnificent cake come from Lucy, this is the best cake I have ever eaten in my life!" I was glad to hear it.

"It is actually mine and my mother's recipe. Capricorn makes it for me when I get here every visit. I will have to share the recipe with you. So how did you become a guard?"

It was another two hours of chatting before Evergreen and Laxus came over to the table interrupting our moment of bonding. "I'm sorry Princess, but it's nearly six and dinner should be going on the table here shortly." I didn't realize we spent that long chit chatting. It was easy to get lost in spending time with Erza. She was like the older sister I've never had. Even though we weren't hungry I knew we had to be at dinner. Capricorn would throw a fit if we skipped.

Everyone was already sitting at the table waiting for us. The food hasn't come out yet though, so that was good. I would have felt terrible if they were waiting for me to eat. "Where have you guys been?" Natsu asked us with a wide grin on his face. He looked flawless when he looked like that.

Erza looked over to me with a question in her eye whether or not we should tell him. I smiled and faced Natsu. "I figured, since you all would be staying with me for a while that Erza and myself should get to know each other. This way we can have a more relaxed holiday." What I said made Natsu very happy.

"We're not going to leave right away?" He was nearly falling out of his chair with excitement, which in turn made me extremely happy. I will easily make friends with everyone here.

"Nope, I figured it would be a nice change of scenery for you where you will still be able to have your studies, exercise, and meet some new amazing people." Erza smiled over to me. "I believe staying here will be a great idea. I will be writing to your father tonight to let him know. He will receive the letter no later than a few days." The look in his eyes reminded me of one of a child and made my heart just melt. I had to look away from him or I may start to swoon.

"Levy, did you get done what you had to get done?" She looked dead tired. Knowing her she must have worked through lunch and didn't take a break. When she started something it was nearly impossible for her to step away from it. I was actually slightly surprised to even see her here.

"No, but I got further than I thought I would." I watched as a blush formed on her skin. Her eyes flicked to the large muscular man that was sitting next to Natsu. "If it weren't for Gajeel, I wouldn't have even been to dinner Lu! I got so side tracked with the tomes that I forgot about time completely." I laughed at this. Yup, typical Levy.

"Well, thank you kind knight for rescuing my friend from the evil clutches of book dust and small print font." We all laughed at this and I watched as now both of them had blushs covering their faces. Hmm, maybe I could play matchmaker. Levy needed a strong man in her life that would take care of her. I would have to look further into it later. Hell, she may not even need my help if the looks they are exchanging have any bearing.

We all ate in silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, more like a happy hum of chewing. Once everything was gone I watched as Erza asked to have an audience with Laxus and wondered what they were talking about. I tried to follow them, but got grabbed by Levy. Damnit. "Hey, tomorrow afternoon would you like to have tea with me. I feel like I haven't seen you since being here. Which I know is my fault, but I want some Lu time." I hugged her to me.

"Of course, but you just picked the worse time to ask. I was trying to snoop on their conversation. I don't know why they left." I watched her face go red.

"I'm sorry. I'm sure it was nothing important. Just guard stuff. She probably wanted to tell him that she would calm down after your talk today." She had a point. Erza was a person of respect and she did tell me that she would apologize to Laxus, so that's probably what they were doing.

I walked back into the room and noticed that everyone was already gone except for Evergreen. "Ready Lulu?" I always had an escort. I sighed wishing for once I didn't so I could snoop and maybe spend some time with our guests getting to know them. Instead I know that she was going to take me to my room. She must have seen the disappointment in my face.

"Awe, don't give me that look, would you like me to brush your hair for you? That always cheers you up!" It really did. I loved when people played with me hair.

"No thanks, I'd rather just go to my room for the evening. It's been a long day. I will see you later Levs." I kissed her cheek as we walked to my room.

"Good evening my darling princess!" Virgo walked over to me. "Aries has made you a new pajama set. Would you like to take a nice hot bath and then go to bed?" A hot bath did sound wonderful.

"Yeah, that sounds perfect. However, I will take care of it. Thank you Virgo. I know that you've missed Loke and Capricorn go spend time with them." Her eyes sparkled with delight and she bowed to me slightly before running out of the room. I had got the bath together and slipped into the hot water. I sighed thinking of the day. I wish I were able to spend more time with the visitors. I wanted to get to know Natsu more.

I was just thinking about getting out when I heard a clunk similar to a door opening and closing. "Laxus? Is that you?" My heart started racing. Who was in my room?

"Oh thank Mavis! I thought I might have been in the wrong room! Could you imagine if I was in Freed's room?" It was Natsu's voice!

"Natsu?" I watched as the handle on the door to the bath chamber started to turn. "Don't come in here. I am not decent. Let me change!" The handle stopped turning.

"Okay, I'll wait." He was so calm. Bubbly even. I got out of the bath and dried off as quickly as I could leaving my hair wet. I threw on the pajamas that Aries made me and left the bathroom.

"What are you doing here? How did you get in here?" He got up and poked at my wet hair.

"I wanted to get to know ya so I scaled the wall and broke in from the balcony and you really shouldn't walk around with wet hair. It'll make you sick. My sister taught me how to do her hair if you'd like me to dry it for you." He didn't give me a chance to answer because he took my hand and took me back to the bath chamber. "It smells really nice in here." I blushed at his statement.

"I put some scented oils in the bath. You're probably smelling those." He pushed me down in the chair and sat behind me. I felt his thighs touching my hips and had to stop myself from being too obvious with my blush. He had to realize how close he was, right? He grabbed the brush and the towel and started to brush my hair and then pat the hair dry. I was in heaven.

"You said you have a sister?" I felt the brush pause only for a moment. I don't think he was expecting my question.

"Yeah, she's my younger sister. Her name is Wendy. Do you have any brothers or sisters?" I felt sad at the question.

"No, I'm an only child. I always wondered what it would be like to grow up with one though. Do you and your sister get along well?" I felt him taking my hair into his hand doing small twists and twirls with it.

"I love my sister very much and we get along most of the time. Sometimes, we argue, but for the most part we don't. I also have an older brother who is more reserved, but he always kept me happy growing up. Not all families are like that though. I think it depends on the people themselves." The conversation paused for a short while. "What do you like to do for fun Luce?" Something about him calling me Luce put butterflies in my stomach.

"I guess my favorite activities would be reading, sparring, horseback riding, and eating." He laughed. It was a deep belly laugh that made me smile and laugh as well.

"That sounds amazing. Well, all but the reading. I get so bored staring into a book. I love adventure so I would rather be making the stories than reading them." That made sense to me.

"All your stories I would assume are of one's of you getting yourself into trouble I could bet?" He placed the brush down and chuckled again.

"I don't know what you mean." He placed his hand over his chest in mock hurt. "Trouble? What is this trouble you speak of?" He grabbed my hand again helping me get back up. I smiled at him and played right back.

"The type of trouble that makes one sneak into a young woman's room at night for reasons unknown perhaps?" His smile turned suspicious and made me stomach do a backflip of emotions.

"Perhaps I came to your room with intentions of being bad or perhaps I came to your room to get to know this wonderful," he took my hand in his and kissed it. "Beautiful," he put his finger under my chin to make me lock eyes with him and kissed my cheek. "Smart," he moved to kiss my temple. "Young woman." My face was burning red at this point. I don't know what it was with him that allowed all of me to just let loose. I had no fear, no care in the world when he was around. It felt so natural to just be myself. Maybe Erza was right, perhaps I should tell him who I was. That thought pushed me out of my daze. He was smiling and laughing at me.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I just felt like if I didn't take it upon myself to get to know you I would never be able to. For some reason I feel like a moth around your beautiful light and just want to spend some time with you. Is that all right? I can go if you wish me to?" Him leaving was the last thing I wanted.

"I would love to get to know you. It's just improper because I am spoken for." His face fell.

"As am I." I remember Erza telling me that he wasn't happy about that fact. I could tell by the look on his face that it was killing him. I put my arms around him and hugged him tight.

"Erza told me that it is an arranged marriage. I understand not being happy because of that. You may grow to love your partner though. That's what I have to believe for myself." He flew back from my arms and his eye locked with mine as well.

"You're engagement is arranged as well?" I nodded.

"We come from high society so it is not the norm to marry for love. It is a rare commodity. Unfortunately I have not met the man I will be betrothed to. The wedding is to take place in the summer." He sat down beside me.

"Yeah, I wont be meeting mine for a while yet as well. We are to be wed in the winter." We sat there for a few moments and the chill from the open balcony door made me shiver. "Are you cold?" I nodded slightly and he got up to close the door and then proceeded to wrap his arms around me. I felt warmth in his embrace, warmth that touched my very soul.

"Tell me about yourself Natsu."

"Well, to be completely honest there's not too much to tell. I grew up on a large estate with fancy titles and events that were stuffy and boring. I've always longed for adventure and friendship. I love the people in my life, don't get me wrong, but I wanted to branch out and meet people from other kingdoms. I wanted to go around the world and see exactly everything I could." He paused and looked down at me still in his arms. "Meeting you so far has been the best adventure I could ask for. I mean, the arrow sucked, but it was worth it. I'm glad we get to stay." I had to agree with him.

"Yes, I agree. I am sorry for the arrow, but I am glad it happened. What do you like to do on your spare time? What do you like to do for fun?" He laid down on the bed with my still in his arms and I felt my head fit comfortably in the crook of his neck. A part of me screamed that this was indecent and we both could be in trouble for this, but the other part of me was happy, warm, comfortable, and just didn't care.

"I also enjoy sparring, maybe we can spar one day and see who would win! I mainly spar with my guard. Erza is a beast though. I don't think anyone could beat her. I also like to make glass sculptures using flames. The best piece I've ever made was a dragon. Maybe one day I could show you!" He was excited over it, which made me want to see it so much more than he could imagine. "Mmm, I also like to go horseback riding. I take Happy, my horse, out as frequently I can. We like to see how fast we can go. There's just a feeling you get when you're going fast and have the wind in your hair that makes you feel free." He yawned besides me causing me to do the same.

"How long have you been doing your sculptures?" I wondered what he's made and if he would show me how to make something one day.

"I've been making them since I was around ten. My father enjoys making them and I wanted to help so one day he started to train me and I have never looked back. I absolutely love doing it. How about you is there something you love to do that your parents have taught you?" There was only one thing that came to mind.

"My mom taught me how to cook. My father wasn't too happy about the idea at first because he didn't want me in the kitchens where I could possibly get hurt, but after he's eaten my food he didn't mind any more. In fact I still go in the kitchens every once in a while and cook for everyone. With the help of our chefs of course, I can't take all of the credit." I smiled at all the fond memories I had with my mother. Missing her was like missing a piece of my soul.

"Do you and your mother still cook together?" I felt tears form in my eyes and had to take a deep breath to force them away before answering. He noticed the change in me and looked down, frowning. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry." I felt him pull me closer to him enveloping me in his warmth. I didn't allow the tears to leave my eyes.

"My mother died when I was younger. She had a rare disease that the doctors didn't know how to fight. I miss her every day. There are so many things I wish I could tell her." I felt him kiss the top of my head. I sighed feeling myself become exhausted. I had no idea what time it was, but I knew it was well past midnight. Natsu had spent the evening with me and I thought it was amusing and a little disconcerting that my guard had no idea. A part of me felt that maybe we should have better surveillance outside. I giggled and he looked at me confused.

"What?" I explained to him what my thoughts were and he paused for a second. "Mavis, you're right. If I could get in with your guard I'm sure if someone wished you harm they could come in too. That's just more reason for me to be here. Someone needs to keep you safe while you sleep." His words made a blush come to my face. As much as I wanted him to stay he really should go. I couldn't will my mouth open to tell him though. His arms were wrapped tight around me and he was laying on his right side, mostly on his back with my head in-between his neck and shoulder. I have never been this comfortable before. My legs felt weird and I wanted to make them more comfortable so I moved one of them up so they were between his and before I got the chance to even consider telling him to leave again I felt my eyes become heavy.

"You make me feel safe too." I wanted him to know that I was comfortable around him even if it didn't make sense to be because we were still strangers in a sense.

"For some reason, I am with you as well. I feel as if I've known you my whole life. I can't explain it, but you make me happy." I smiled softly.

"I feel the same way. I hope we get to know each other forever. Even after we both are married." I was mumbling at this point not really paying attention to what I was saying. I knew there was a part of me that thought this was wrong and that we were going to regret this in the morning, but I couldn't think of why at the moment.

"I will make sure that we will always remain close. I don't care what I have to do to do it. I want you to always be a part of my life from here on out." I felt him nestle his face into my hair. "Get some sleep Luce, I will be here in the morning." His idea sounded wonderful. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath smelling his smoky scent. I felt myself drift off into a dream that was sure to haunt me for a long while.

 _I felt his nose run along my neck to my ear, his teeth grabbing my ear lobe and bringing it into his mouth. The sensitivity of the act made me squirm. He sucked on the lobe as his hand made it's way up my side resting on the top of my hip. His body was on top of mine. The weight was comfortable and made me feel like nothing in the world mattered besides the two of us._

 _I opened my eyes and ran my hand from his shoulder to his stomach going down his chest. I felt his abs beneath the soft fabric and moaned with want. "Natsu." I felt his smile on my neck as he playfully nipped at the sensitive neck. I wasn't expected the act and felt myself buck up into him feeling his penis fully erect against me. I moaned for a whole new meaning now. Playfulness aside, his eyes were full of desire. He knew what he wanted and it was obvious. I heard the growl leave him when I decided to seek out the friction one more time._

" _Luce, I want our time together to last if you continue to do that it'll be over far too quickly." I leaned up to kiss him and he met me half way. His lips were softer than I would have thought. The kiss was soft and slow at first, but once I felt his tongue slide across my lip all bets were off. I opened my mouth to his exploration and we got lost in the feeling. I moaned at the feeling of his tongue playing with my own never feeling this type of interaction before. My hands balled up in his shirt and I felt my leg start to make its way around his hip pushing him further into me. This allowed him to take the lead moving his hand further up into my shirt and towards my breasts. I wanted to feel him everywhere. I was wearing my bedclothes so they were free from any constraint and as soon as his hand enclosed one of my breasts I moaned deeply grinding myself into him one more time. I felt him squeeze tighter when our bodies found a lovely friction together. I moaned loudly when he tweaked my nipple. He was just about to move his hand further down when I heard the door open._

The door opened into the room apparently not in my dream and it was only a moment later I heard screaming.

"What is going on here!" It was more of a scream then a question and it startled both of us awake. I moved my face from Natsu and looked up to see who disturbed the best dream I have ever had. Evergreen.

"You're dead Natsu. How dare you." She was pissed. Before I could explain I saw two other bodies making it's way into the room. I felt Natsu hold me tighter, probably because he was afraid for his life, which made me want to giggle.

AN: Look, I posted a day early! First and foremost I want to thank everyone who reviewed, liked, favorited. You all give me the motivation to push on. I am a selfish writer, meaning. The reason I started a story was because I was reading basically everything on here and nothing was being updated at the time so I was like okay, I need my fix somehow! Haha

I threw a little bit of fluff in here. Do keep in mind; I want this to be SOMEWHAT realistic. Let them get to know each other before jumping each other. Plus it's a romance that is off the table for both of them because they both are engaged so it'll be super fun from here. We get a Natsu chapter next and they will be a little pissy. Especially Lucy, she really doesn't like getting told what to do by her guard. There won't be much fluff in the next chapter, but it will be funny and more action filled.

Until next time


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I do not own anything in the Fairy Tale Universe. The plot is my own, but that is all.**

Summary: When there was Royal fame there came royal responsibilities. Responsibilities that required sacrifice and sometimes pain. Sometimes though those responsibilities turned into passion, into love. Follow Princess Heartfilia and Prince Dragneel through their adventure of surprise and spontaneity.

AN: This is an alternate universe fic where their wont be magic and some people don't know each other or aren't related. (i.e Lisanna, Elfman, and Mirajane). It is going to mainly be rated M because of language in the beginning, but there will be more lemon once the story picks up momentum.

Prior Engagement

Chapter 5: The Sparring Match

"What is going on here!" Evergreen's scream woke me from one of the best nights sleep I've ever had. I wanted to ignore the woman and nuzzle my head into Luce and just fall back asleep. Why did they have to wake us up? I'm royalty; don't I get to sleep in? I decided to ignore her scream. That was until two others accompanied her. I cracked an eye as I heard Laxus and Erza walk into the room. My grip tightened around Luce because I knew I was a dead man. I rested my forehead on her cheek for a moment before I sighed.

"I guess this means it's time to get up." The statement made her giggle. The giggle made my chest tighten and even though I could hear them screaming at me, I was okay with it because she was in my arms comfortable and no matter what it was worth it.

"Natsu! You are in so much trouble!" I felt her yank me out of the bed and I gave Luce a sad look. "I am going to kill you! How dare you do this to Lucy!" I had no idea what the hell she was talking about. I didn't do anything to Luce. I was about to argue back, but surprisingly enough it was Luce who spoke up.

"Nothing happened Erza. All we did was chat. We both got tired and fell asleep." He looked over at Laxus who shockingly enough didn't seem too upset. He just stood by the door and glared at me. He wasn't yelling like the two women.

"There was no reason for him to be in here! You are a proper lady and he is a proper gentleman! You were alone together!" Erza was red in the face. She had me by the back of my shirt and was dragging me out. I overheard Evergreen however and it made my heart stop.

"Lucy, Erza is correct. You both are engaged. This is not proper. How would either of your families react to this? Perhaps, you both should consider the consequences of the actions that did or did not take place." She paused and sighed. I noticed the tears gathered in Luce's eyes and was instantly furious. No one had the right to upset Lucy like that. Whether it was meant or not, there was no excuse.

I forcefully wanked myself out of Erza's grasp. I was going to stand up to them. "First and for most, you are our guard not our guardians. We both are old enough to make our own decisions and do what we wish. Secondly, like Luce said, nothing happened. All we did was talk and then we fell asleep. I do not think it is anyone's place here to tell us what we can or can not do and I for sure do not appreciate being scolded like a child." I looked Erza in the eye while I finished my speech. Don't get me wrong, I was fucking terrified, but I didn't want Luce to feel like shit over this. I knew I would most likely sneak back in her room again. Well, that is if I don't die before I get that chance to.

Luce was smiling to me. Her eyes still sparkled with the wetness of her tears, but she was appreciative that I stood up for us. Erza looked like she was going to stab me with her sword and Laxus looked stunned, maybe even a little impressed.

"I do not care who you are, I will protect Lucy's innocence and you will be coming with me." The next thing I felt was a punch to the stomach followed shortly by me keeling over and passing out.

I groaned as I woke up not having a fucking clue on what time it was. After rubbing my eyes I stretched feeling the strain on my abdomen and on my shoulder. The damn wound was still buggin' me. It took me a moment to remember why I was waking up again in my room. Even though I was furious at Erza, I smiled. The night with Luce was amazing. The more I talked to her the more I enthralled by her. She intrigued me. She was like no one I've ever met before. The connection we shared, or at the very least I felt to her was beyond something I've ever felt for any body else ever before her. It was one that made my heart flutter and my stomach do flips.

"Oh look, you're up." I watched as the witch herself walked into my room. Damn Erza and her iron-clad fists. I growled at her. To say I was annoyed was an understatement. I did nothing wrong. "Natsu, do you even understand what you did wrong?" Yeah, nothing.

"I didn't do anything that was wrong Erza and you were out of line." She shook her head. I could tell that she was deep in thought when I watched her pinch the top of her nose.

"Natsu, you are engaged." She paused for a moment. I could tell that she was going to say more so I didn't interrupt. "Look, I understand the engagement is hard for you to get through that thick skull of yours, but you are and you can not disrespect your love that way." She sat on the end of the bed and stared at me for a moment.

"I don't give a shit about the person I am suppose to be engaged to. I want nothing to do with that relationship. I don't know if there will be anything there with her, but I know I feel something with Luce. I want to get to know her more." I wanted to say more, but Erza put her hand up stopping my rant.

"Natsu, how do you think Lucy will feel if she disrespects her father and the individual she is engaged to as well? You are not just putting yourself in a dangerous situation, but her as well. You will be compromising her name and title. Did you think of that?" I hadn't. I didn't care about tarnishing my name because I have made it quite clear that I did not want an arranged marriage, but Luce told me that she was all right with the idea because she understood her responsibilities.

"As usual, you're right. I didn't think of that. I just, I don't know. I've never felt this way before for anyone. I just want to be close to her." Erza smiled to me and pulled me into a hug.

"I'm not saying you can't be, but you have to think of the consequences of your actions, okay?" I nodded. As she pulled away from me I felt my stomach growl. She chuckled and pulled me out of bed. "I came to grab you for lunch. You actually missed breakfast and lessons while you were out." I groaned. That meant it was around one in the afternoon already.

Everyone was already sitting down when we got to the dining table. Luce smiled at me and waved me over to the open seat next to her. "What's for lunch? I'm starving?" She laughed at me as I sat down.

"We're having soup and sandwiches. Hopefully that will be enough for you." Four sandwiches later it was.

"What are we doing after lunch?" I looked around the table to see what everyone had in mind.

"A little bit of sparring actually." I was all fired up now. I was itching for a good spar.

"You will not be sparring Natsu so don't even think about it." I gave Erza a glare.

"You still have a wound hothead." Gray agreed with her. Even Gajeel seemed to nod.

"Awe, come on. I want to fight. Just once I want to bring down Erza in a spar." I was so disappointed. I never got to do what I wanted.

"Like anyone could beat Titania, she is a beast." Gajeel piped up making Luce quirk an eyebrow.

"I could beat her." I loved the confidence that was dripping off of her words, but at that moment I also feared for her life. She didn't know who she was challenging. I mean she did know her, but not with a sword.

"Is that what you think? Laxus do you think your charge would be able to take me on?" He looked over Luce and had a wide dimpled smile.

"There is no doubt in my mind that she could take anyone in this room and win." This was going to be interesting.

"Alright, perfect, Natsu you will study our duel and watch me beat Lucy. I do hope you understand that even though you are of importance I will not go easy on you." I had no idea what she meant by that, but Luce smiled and nodded.

"I wouldn't want it any other way. Perhaps after our duel we can go for a ride on the horses." We all left the dining room to change and go outside to the training area of the estate. The weather outside was wonderful. It was a perfect spring day. We had just entered April and I was excited for the summer. Not just because my birthday was in the summer, but there was something about the heat of summer that made me happier. It was like the sun called out to me.

"We shall do some stretches before we begin. Natsu I expect you to do these as well." I looked over at Erza confused.

"But, I ain't fighting?" Gajeel hit me in the back of the head while he walked by.

"You still need some exercise dummy, stretches will do you some good." He had a point.

"Matter of fact, since you can't duel or spar how about after they are down we can go for a run near the estate?" Gray needed to leave his mouth shut sometimes. I sighed, but it was a good idea. I did have a lot of pent up energy and a run would help me clear my head.

We started to walk over to the stables. That was the best place to go practice. It astounded me how beautiful this estate was. Luce had said this was her vacation home so I could just imagine what her actual home looked like. It was clear that she came from money and titles. I didn't want to delve too far and ask her if she was part of a court. That would open the door to her asking me the same thing back and I wasn't prepared to tell her who I was quite yet. I felt like an asshole lying, but if I told her than she would act differently with me and I would hate that. I enjoyed just being Natsu to her.

We followed the rose gardens that held fountains and small ponds on each side and then followed a cobblestone walkway that went to a large clearing which gave a lot of space her the horses to roam outside of the stables. From the clearing was a forest line. I noticed that I wasn't the only one, but I scanned the tree line to make sure there was no danger. Erza placed herself on the far side of the clearing with her back to the tree line. First and foremost she was a protector. If there were any danger she would want it to come at her and not Luce. That put a smile on my face. She knew that we would all keep an eye just incase as well. I watched as Luce's stance went from relaxed to tense.

I moved to get a better look at her face. Her soft eyes turned deadly. They caught me by surprise. It was as if I was looking at a different person. I looked over at Laxus and he had a smirk on his face. "You got this Lulu!" I heard Bickslow cheer. She didn't look at him when he spoke, hell she didn't even blink.

"Are you ready Lucy?" A part of me wanted to be confident in Luce, but I was nervous. I've never seen her spar before and Erza was unbeatable. It wasn't possible for her to win. Hell, I've been training for over a decade and I couldn't beat her. "I will not hold back, I suggest you bring your best." I watched Erza smile at her as Luce just nodded her head once. She took a deep breath. Her breathing was calm. Mine wasn't. I forgot to fucking breath. Fuck, she was much more calm than I was.

They analyzed each other for a moment not moving. We were all in anticipation to see who made the first move. It was Erza. Her sword went up and instead of coming down she tilted it to move fast to Luce's side. I clenched my jaw because I wasn't seeing Luce move. I didn't want to see her get hurt. In the last second she flipped her wooden sword to fall protecting her side and allowing both of her hands to give the weapon strength. Instead of just blocking she used the momentum of the attack to push back effectively making Erza lose her footing and have to step back. Before anyone could make a comment about the shock in Erza's eyes Luce moved her sword attack back. Erza blocked it with ease and their dance began.

Erza swung her sword fast to Luce's stomach and she blocked it, but then Erza pushed her butt back and sucked in her stomach as she moved her sword forcing the momentum of the defense to swing back at her. That allowed Erza to swing again while she couldn't defend. I thought for sure that Luce would be done for, but she surprised us with a twirl easily missing the sword from touching her. It was easy to see that Erza was impressed and a little frustrated that she hadn't won already. Generally it only took a moment for her to win a fight.

They both moved away from each other recalculating what they would want to do. Luce placed the sword in front of her facing out and her hand was in front of her as if it was balancing her body out. Her legs were spread apart allowing her stance to change at a second's notice. She was the first to attack this time. She attacked with fierce speed attacking her left side looking for a weak point. Erza blocked her sword, but couldn't block her body. While the swords hit Luce used her shoulder to push Erza back effectively hitting her with her sword. It wouldn't have been a deadly hit, but it would have been a hit nonetheless. I heard Gajeel next to me.

"Fuck, she's amazing." I had a huge grin on my face at the proud feeling in my chest. I agreed with Gajeel just nodding in response.

"Yeah, hot head here would be done for already." I glared at Gray just for a moment allowing my eyes to go off of the women in the field. My head swung back when I heard another hit with the swords. Erza kicked it up with power trying to attack Luce with brute strength. It was as if Luce was a dancer because she was easily dodging with her footwork. I watched as Erza swung her sword hard and fast. Luce went to block it, but her strength didn't work in her favor. I watched as her sword flew to the left of her. Her eyes widened for a moment, but she moved quickly to not get hit with the sword. Erza followed her, but Luce surprised all of us when she jumped back doing a back flip dodging Erza once more. She ducked her head and swiped her leg out trying to bring Erza down, but to no avail.

Erza smiled because I had done the same with our last spar. However what I did not do was take my knuckles and swing at her side. I watched as Luce struck her. Erza was surprised for a moment too long because the hit was met with two more to her neck making her crumple to the ground dropping her sword. Luce was crouched on the ground panting. We all stood there in silence never seeing Erza lose a fight. No one knew how to react to the situation.

"You attacked my nerves, I am more than impressed. Who taught you to do that?" Luce sat down next to her and started to massage her neck to loosen the nerves that she attacked.

"Bickslow knows the body more than anyone I have ever met. Evergreen taught me how to dance, Laxus taught me to fight, and Bickslow taught me the body. You should feel better here in a moment, Freed, can I get some water please?" Freed was the closest to her the brought a pitcher with them.

"Way to go Luce!" I ran over to her to give her a hug, but she stopped me. She smiled at me, but continued to tend to Erza. She noticed my confused look.

"I essentially paralyzed her for a moment, I want to make sure she is okay please just give me a moment. About a minute later Erza was sitting up cracking her neck and stretching her limbs just like they were just beginning.

"You were absolutely spectacular Lucy, I would love to see you spar with Natsu some time. I guarantee you will easily take him down." She looked over to Bickslow then. "You have trained her very well on the body, I did not expect that. Do you think you would be able to teach Natsu the same technique?"

Luce stood up and gave me the hug I had wanted. I tightened my hold on her nuzzling my face into her neck. I was so proud of her. I had no idea that she was so taleneted. I wasn't surprised she knew how to fight, but to fight that good was amazing. I wouldn't want to go up against her. It was clear that Erza didn't hold back either. The smell of her calmed me and I didn't want to ever pull away. I heard Gajeel clear his throat forcing me out of my own head. I let go sadly and stepped away. I had to really do some thinking about what Erza had said earlier.

"I can't wait to learn that! You'll really teach me?" I looked over to Bickslow who had a wide grin on his face.

"Hell yeah! It's the best way to win in a fight. I taught Lulu it as a defense just incase she was ever attacked." The thought of her being attacked left a sour taste in my mouth and I almost growled out loud with fury. As long as I was around that would never happen.

"I'm all fired up for that training, when can we start?" Everyone was chuckling at my enthusiasm, which was fine by me. I didn't mind if I made people laugh. I just wanted to be more efficient in my fights as well.

"I won't go easy on you pinkie." I glowered at his nickname for me.

"My hair ain't pink. It's salmon. So fuck off." Erza got up and smacked me over the head.

"Watch your mouth, there are ladies present." I rolled my eyes as Luce had her hand covering her face trying to stifle her laughs. I was at least making her laugh. I could get used to that.

"Yeah yeah, I'll behave." In my head I threw a maybe in there.

"We can learn when your shoulder is a little better. I don't want to force the wound back open on accident." Yeah, that would probably be a good thing.

"Laxus, while we are here I would like to spar you as well. Seeing as Lucy was very well trained I am sure you are just as well, if not better." It was a statement not a question, but you could tell the strain in Erza that she lost a battle. That was something she was not used to.

"Of course, I will spar you anytime, well maybe not right now." He smirked at her while her face turned red in a little anger. "I will wait until your nerves are fully healed. I would like you to not hold back." We all laughed knowing he was treading on thin ice.

"Erza, how about we enjoy some tea and cake while the boys go for their run? Bicks, Freed, and Laxus can join them and Ever and Levy can join us. It can be some girl time!" Her comment made me happy I was going for a run. I did not want to be in that estrogen fueled nightmare. It was hard enough being near Erza, but throw Evergreen in the mix and I was basically suicidal. Evergreen was super protective of Lucy, clearly, but now so was Erza. I think she bought her love with cake personally. I've never seen Erza take a liking to someone so fast. It was scary really.

"Yes, I would enjoy a run, it's been a while since I've been able to stretch my legs." Freed commented.

"How about we take the trail we take the horses on in forest? It stays pretty close and it is only about five miles or so, does that sound good to you guys." I looked at Laxus incredulously. Five miles was insane. I didn't want to run five miles. Maybe two, maybe even three tops. Not five. I sighed knowing that my opinion or thoughts would be ignored anyway. We watched as the girls walked back on the path to the rose gardens as we started to walk on the trail.

"So Natsu, about this morning." Oh shit. Laxus started to jog next to me. "I'm not particularly mad because I have trust in Lucy not to do something she doesn't want to or something that she isn't ready for, but I want you to know that if you hurt her in anyway, Erza will not be able to save you." I looked over to him, which was a mistake because there was a turn in the path and I almost ran into a tree.

"Excuse me? You're not mad?" The others looked over listening to our conversation, but not getting involved in it.

"Like I said, Lucy is a woman and is almost marrying age. She can make up her own mind on how she would like to act and whom she would like to get herself involved in. I honestly couldn't care less about noble society and how they view woman if or if not they are virgins when they marry, but I just want to make it clear to you that if you push her into anything I will kill you." I was impressed.

"It won't just be him on that list, Lulu deserves the best, so if you care for her you better damn well be good to her. She does not deserve anything less than that." What the fuck was going on? I didn't expect any of this.

"It does seem that she is quite smitten with you as well. It was almost as if you two just clicked as soon as you saw each other. I honestly, don't believe I've ever seen her act this happy for this long before. I mean it has only been a few days, but she seems to act as if it has been years that she has known you." Freed was basically contemplating outloud. It didn't sound as if he was actually talking to anyone.

"That's okay, because if he makes Lucy unhappy in anyway, I'm sure Titania and Evergreen will beat the fuck out of him." Gajeel and Gray were laughing, which encouraged everyone to agree with the statement.

"Oh yeah, and if I ever catch you scaling the wall outside ever again I will tell Erza how you got into that room. You put yourself in danger that way." I don't think I could widen my eyes any further. I had truly thought that no one had noticed me doing that. It didn't however, make me feel a bit more comfortable however knowing that he did catch me. That means he was looking out for Luce even when I couldn't see him doing it.

"He did what?" Gray practically fell over in his discovery. "I'm going to kill you! How dare you put yourself at risk like that!"

"Do you understand how hard it is to keep you safe when you act like a dumbass?" Gajeel decided to join in which just put a tick in my forehead.

"I can protect myself thank you very much. I was safe, I didn't fall." I knew that comment was only going to upset them more, which in all honesty is why I said it. I loved getting a rise out of them.

We jogged in silence for a little while everyone deep in thought. I was in the middle of the group. It seemed like even subconsciously they were all keeping me safe. I watched as Bickslow, who was behind me came up to be on the side of me.

"Lulu is like a sister to me, I will never tell her what she can and can't do, but please take into consideration that she has the brightest soul and the most caring heart I have ever seen." He paused to think about what he was going to say and I wasn't going to interrupt him. "I agree with Laxus. She is a smart woman and I wouldn't want to tell her what she can and can not do, but please understand that she may do something that will have dire consequences later. You both seem to have a liking to each other like Freed had mentioned, but you both are to be betrothed and it will deal a great conflict with your families. We do not wish to see either of you in conflict." He fell back allowing me to take the information in. It was the same that that was told to me earlier. I knew where they were coming from. I didn't want to put hardship on her or myself as well.

I was going to have to completely reanalyze our situation. I didn't want to disobey my father, but I wanted to marry for love and I could see myself being with Lucy, but he had also picked a princess for me and if I had decided to against his wishes and marry someone who was not over royal background that may do more damage to the union he had organized. It may even bring a war for the kingdoms. However, his father mentioned it was a king that was a friend. Perhaps they could all talk it over. I still wanted to spend time with Luce, but perhaps I would step back and allow us to be more open with doing so and not sneak into her bedchambers, that is for at least a little while. I couldn't say it wasn't going to happen again.

We were making it back to the clearing in no time and we all decided to grab a snack before grabbing the girls and going horseback riding. I was glad I was able to see the trail before taking the horse on it; at least I knew where I was going now.

AN: I'm sorry! I have a ton of things to do today and I didn't proof read this. So I apologize for the mistakes. ALSO, this SHOULD HAVE come out yesterday, but I got into a Disney kick and for some reason really wanted to watch the Lion King. Apparently the Lion King 2 came out 20 years ago this year and I just felt compelled to watch 1 and 2. I got a few reviews and PMs asking questions about the story and hopefully this helps a little in answering them.

Once again I would like to thank everyone who has followed, favorited, or reviewed. I do love to read any and all that I receive and take them into consideration when I am writing my chapters. I don't like to call people out on the chapters. I do not ignore them, I would rather just focus on content more than anything else. This chapter is shorter than the others also, sorry. I wanted to end it right after the duel, but decided to add the jog/run into it as well.

We will see how long it takes for Natsu to break in again. There will be NALU shenanigans in soon to be future chapters that we will get into.

Until next time.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I do not own anything in the Fairy Tale Universe. The plot is my own, but that is all.**

Summary: When there was Royal fame there came royal responsibilities. Responsibilities that required sacrifice and sometimes pain. Sometimes though those responsibilities turned into passion, into love. Follow Princess Heartfilia and Prince Dragneel through their adventure of surprise and spontaneity.

AN: This is an alternate universe fic where their wont be magic and some people don't know each other or aren't related. (i.e Lisanna, Elfman, and Mirajane). It is going to mainly be rated M because of language in the beginning, but there will be more lemon once the story picks up momentum.

Prior Engagement

Chapter 6: You're Trapped In My Thoughts

Two weeks! It has been two weeks since that duel with Erza and I feel like I can't get him out of my head. It's not a shock; we spend so much time together. He clings to me and I; well, to be completely honest, I just want more. I'm not getting what I need. I don't know what I need. I just know I need more, more from him specifically.

"Princess, how does this outfit look?" Virgo had brought me an outfit to wear for our little outing. We decided since it was so nice outside to go horseback riding. That was, at least before it gets dark. Dinner was in just a couple of hours so we didn't have too much time on the trails. She had placed the outfit on the bed for me to inspect and I wasn't falling for her tricks again. She has been giving me outfits that Natsu seemed to love. I don't really understand how she knows what to pick, but she sure had a knack for it. Thinking about Natsu made me think of my dream from last night. It was like he attacked my dreams in full force and left me breathing hard and lust filled ever since.

I had to take a long breath to calm myself. "Yes this will do lovely, thank you Virgo. I believe this will be perfect!" In front of me was a pair of sturdy skin forming pants that showed off my legs nicely with a hot red silk blouse. The outfit was made from the richest of material, but looked amazing on me and would hold up nicely for our ride. I had changed into the outfit while Virgo was in my closet again. This time she was coming back with shoes.

"I do believe these would look great with that outfit. It may even complete the sexy look." She winked at me making my face take a heavy blush.

"Virgo! I'm not going for a sexy look, we are just going riding." Who was I kidding? I wanted Natsu's attention. I thrived on it. When he would pay me a complement or look at me with that intense look in his eye it made me hum with excitement. I think we both were walking on dangerous territory. I had to remind myself more than once a day that I was engaged and should have these lewd thoughts about another. It made me feel like a criminal in a way. It made me feel dangerous and I loved the thrill of it. I grabbed the heavy black boots from Virgo that ran up my legs to stop at my knees and put them on. Hearing Virgo's low whistle of the outfit made me blush once more. I just had to do my hair now and I was ready to go.

"Would you like me to French braid it Princess, I think it would give you an adorable look to complete this ensemble." I thought about it only for a moment before sitting down at my vanity and allowing her to do as she suggested. It wasn't long before I started to make my way outside my room. Laxus was leaning against the wall waiting for me to be ready.

"I see you're dressing your best more than usual." It was a comment meant to tease me.

"Shut up Laxus, I always dress my best." Which was mostly true. I never dressed like this being in this estate. This was my escape to act and be how I wanted.

"Well, you kept us all waiting long enough I think your boyfriend is chomping at the bit to do something." I laughed envisioning Natsu pacing back and forth bored out of his mind. I also blushed at the boyfriend comment. That was certainly not the case; even if my dreams didn't realize we could never be. I was forlorn now walking down the stairwell to meet up with everyone else. Laxus picked up on my change of attitude and elbowed me. "I was only kidding, I didn't mean to upset you." I smiled over to him because it wasn't his fault I was feeling like this and it wasn't what he had said. It was my own feelings that were making me feel like I should stop acting as I was. The truth of the matter though was that I didn't want to.

"Thanks Laxus, I could only imagine Natsu trying to entertain himself. He would most likely burn down the estate if left alone for too long." We both laughed at that knowing it would most likely be true.

"It's a good thing he's never alone." Yes, that was a good thing. I wouldn't want anything to ever happen to him. That also reminded me that he held an important title to his name if he had these guards with him as a constant. Only for a moment I played with the idea of perhaps taking him back to my kingdom for my father to give me the permission to peruse my feelings with this strange man. Alas, those thoughts never made it passed my lips knowing full well that it would anger the King. My thoughts were interrupted when we finally came to view.

"It's about time Luce! I was starting to think you were playing a prank on me or something!" His smile was contagious. I was lost in the happy glint in his eyes and at that moment he had erased all the negative thoughts in my head and it was just us. Well, us and our happiness together. In the short amount of time that we've known each other we have become best friends. It seemed as we both were comfortable and could tell each other anything. I badly wanted to tell him who I was, but at this point I was afraid that he would be upset over my deceit.

"I am very sorry for making you wait. I had to get ready to go, I couldn't go riding in my dress, now could I?" Natsu being the man he was looked confused.

"Why not? I thought you looked fine. Not to say you don't know, but we could be on the horses already if you didn't have to change. I mean, not that I was in a rush." He started to ramble off making the group chuckle at his misfortune.

"Very smooth." I heard Gray mumble to Gajeel and I giggled at the two men. Natsu grumbled in annoyance from his guard's words. I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. His annoyed expression melted away into a look of happiness once more and he squeezed back. I was about to pull my hand away, but he only held mine tighter. I chuckled at his antics.

"Luce I believe Happy will be faster than Plue today." Everything was always a competition to Natsu. Happy, Natsu's horse was faster than Plue, my own horse, but no one could beat Bolt, Laxus' horse.

"No races this time!" Laxus and Erza had a hell of a time last time we went out on the trails. Natsu wanted to race Gray and Gajeel.

"We'll see." Natsu had a deviant smirk on his face that made Erza smack him across the head.

"Listen to Laxus!" He rubbed the back of his head with a frown cowering away from his guard.

"Yes ma'am." I looked over to Levy who was laughing as well as me at the scene.

"You sure are a handful, let's just have a nice ride." He still had my hand in his and started to jog to the stables. I felt a tinge of pink on my cheeks at his eagerness and childlike antics.

The ride started out as good as could be. We were all riding near each other with me in between Levy and Natsu and our guard surrounding us make sure no threats were present. Natsu was taunting Gray trying to get a rise out of him and start trouble, but Gray was not having any of it.

"Hey, ice dick, I bet Happy would beat Blizzard in a race." I smacked his arm.

"No races remember!" He rolled his eyes playfully.

"We need some fun Luce! A race would be perfect. We'll be safe, I swear." I glared at both men.

"Before you two get in trouble, I think you should separate. Gajeel, can you swap places with Gray please?" Erza commanded them. It sounded like a question, but once she said it it wasn't and if you didn't do as she commanded you would be in more trouble, or unconscious. Gajeel looked annoyed however because he was having a conversation with Levy that seemed rather important in his eyes. He huffed and did as he was told however. I looked over at Levy to see her looking a little sad as well. I wanted to be upset with them now as well, I never really saw Levy have any type of interest with anyone except in the library.

The boys didn't quite annoying each other however. Now I watched as they threw twigs and acorns at each other instead. I didn't see the interaction going well, but seeing as Erza and Laxus was in front they didn't know it was happening. That was until Levy's horse made a loud noise.

I watched in horror as her horse jumped in the air almost forcing Levy off of her and started to dart into the forest. I was scared for my friend and wanted to make sure she was safe so without thinking I directed Plue to run after her. I could hear Laxus and Natsu starting to curse and yell at me to slow down, but I just wanted to get to Levy and make sure she was alright as well as Capilet, her horse.

I felt the twigs hit my arms as we swiftly drove forward in-between the trees. I was sad for my blouse because I could feel the pulls of the fabric and new that it was being snagged here and there on my pursuit. I could also feel small cuts forming and the warmth of blood start to dot my skin. Nothing was deep and very painful, but I knew that Laxus was going to be furious. I was the first one to catch up with Levy and I calmly grabbed the reigns to bring our horses completely side-by-side trying to calm Capilet. I hushed her as Levy rubbed at her fur. I saw a nasty looking cut on Levy's face and figured she must have been smacked in the face with a branch.

"Are you okay Lev?" She looked at me with tears running down her face and nodded.

"Thank you Lu! I was so scared I have no idea what scared her. The only thing I can think of is a bug or something must have fallen on her and bit her from the twigs the boys were throwing. Now I was annoyed with them. They put my friend in Danger. The rest of the group was already here and the boys in question were looking down.

"I'm sorry Levy." Natsu was the first to say anything. Laxus went to talk next, but knowing he was going to yell at me I cut him off.

"Gajeel, would you take Levy back to the estate and have Virgo clean her up please?" He looked at me like I was crazy but nodded anyway not questioning why I had picked him. I wanted to give them some privacy hoping that maybe something would come out of it.

"Great idea, in the mean time, Bickslow will you stay with me and everyone else can make it back to the stables, I would like to have a chat with Lucy for a moment." Oops. Natsu gave me a sad look knowing I was in trouble because of him. I smiled reassuringly at him. I know that he wasn't trying to get anyone hurt and he just want to play so I couldn't be too mad at him. We stayed still while everyone else started to turn around on the trail.

"What the fuck Blondie. I called out to you to stop and you blatantly just ignored me. I've let a lot slide on this vacation of yours but your safety is my top priority. You put yourself at risk riding off into the forest like that. What if there were bandits. What if there were any bears? I was too far back to protect you." He was giving me a look of disapproval. "I will protect you with my life not just because you are a princess but because I love you. However don't put yourself in danger needlessly. We all followed you and one of us could have protected Levy instead." He looked me over noticing the tears in my shirt and sighed. "Now, let's get you back and cleaned up. It should be around dinner time." I went to turn around when movement caught my eye. It must have been a play on the light because as soon as I looked for it again it was gone.

"What are you looking at Lulu?" Bicks questioned watching me. Laxus turned around as well once he heard Bicks.

"I thought I saw something in the trees, but I don't see anything any more, it must have just been a shadow from the breeze." Both of their eyes locked to the forest in the direction I was pointing at.

"Bicks, stay with Lucy." I watched as he went into the forest to scope out the area. My heart started to beat faster with the newfound adrenaline of a possible threat. I felt my hands become clammy and I gripped the reigns of Plue tighter. My eyes never left the forest constantly scanning.

"It'll be okay Lulu." Bickslow gave me a reassuring smile and I tried to return it. We waited just a few minutes for Laxus to return with a solemn look on his face. "Find anything boss man?"

"Actually, there is a camp site not too far away. It looks like someone is still there, but I couldn't actually find someone. "Let's get back, I think we may need to stay alert and inside for a bit just to be safe." We made our way back in silence all of us constantly scanning the area for a threat. As soon as we got back I felt both of them hovering on both sides of me making me smile at them. I loved them both. It could have just been a scared individual who was camping in the area. It's not like I owned the forest.

"It's about time you guys got back I was about to come back out to make sure you were alright." Everyone was hanging out in the living room waiting for us. "What's wrong?"

"Lulu thinks she may have seen someone in the forest and after further expectation we found a recent campsite. Keep them inside for a bit. We will make sure everything is locked up." Natsu's eyes fell on me with a scared look. He got up and walked over to me hugging me close to him.

"I'm sorry again Luce, I'm glad you're safe." I smiled at him and pushed him away.

"Guys, the camper may just be on holiday, don't act so crazy. Plus, you," I pointed into Natsu's chest "don't owe me an apology, you owe Levy one." He frowned one more time, but nodded in agreement. "Now lets have dinner, I am hungry."

"Me too! What's for dinner?" I blushed slightly as Natsu took my hand and started to drag me to the dining room putting me in the chair next to him. I looked around seeing the people in the room laughing and smiling at his antics.

"Where is Levy and Gajeel?" They were nowhere to be found and I hoped she was alright.

"Levy is alright, Gajeel felt that she should have a moment to herself and not around everyone else so I directed them to the kitchen. They are eating as we speak. Personally I think he just wanted to corner the poor girl and take advantage of her." Loke smirked not really meaning anything bad about the brutish man. That didn't stop Bicks from throwing a piece of bread at his head.

"Don't joke like that, Leo. I'm sure he is treating Levy like the lady she is." I smiled over at Bicks as he defended the man he didn't even know that well. My guard was amazing. The conversation died as Capricorn and Virgo walked in with trays of food. My mouth started to water at the pork, potatoes, and veggies on the trays.

"Everything looks amazing as always Capricorn, thank you!" All talk stopped as we all piled the food on our plates and ate our food. Erza was pleased because Capricorn had made another strawberry cake and she wanted it all to herself. Capricorn expected this however and came out with another for the rest of us. I smiled thinking about the dynamic we had in a short amount of time. We all got along so well. It felt as if we have always been the best of friends.

It wasn't until after dinner that I was actually taking a bath. "I can't believe they allowed you to go to dinner in this. This shirt is completely ruined." Virgo was pouting at the rips and tears of the blouse she picked out. I laughed as she gave me big alligator tears.

"It's not funny princess! I loved this shirt. I will make you a new one at once!" I rolled my eyes. She was being over dramatic. "In the mean time I have a nice hot bath going for you, would you like me to wash your hair? I know how much you love that." I nodded enthusiastically loving the feeling of someone doing my hair.

"I noticed how comfortable you and Natsu have gotten, what's going on there?" I blushed at Virgo's question.

"Nothing, you know nothing can happen, we are spoken for." Even though I said it, I know it sounded as if I was just making excuses.

"We all just want you to be happy princess, I hope you understand that. No one here will judge you for your decisions as a proud, strong woman." Virgo didn't say anything else and just worked on my hair. Her words meant a lot to me and I knew that my guard felt the same way. I remember a conversation I had with Bickslow which made me blush even further. I was coveted because I was a princess, but most of the high society slept around and they didn't think much of virgins being a high priority. Apparently, they were taking bets on how proper I would be. I assured them that I wouldn't do anything to diminish either of our names or my fathers. Although, whose to say he was a virgin. I assumed he was, but I wouldn't look down on him if he weren't. I was a little sad at the thought though. I would want to be his first if I could. I abruptly stopped my thought process and focused on what Virgo was doing instead.

It wasn't much longer that my hair was piled on the top of my head as I relaxed in the hot water. My skin was clean again and I soaked up the relaxing warm water. I allowed my thoughts to get carried away and it went exactly where I hoped it wouldn't. My dreams have been vivid the last few nights and I felt that I couldn't escape them. I didn't even notice the face that my hand was running up and down my stomach slowly until I felt it start to glide up the side of my right breast. My breath started to quicken and my eyes closed to all myself to envision the thoughts I was started to yearn for.

"Natsu." I softly moaned out as I squeezed my breast with my right hand as my left hand made it's way in the water. I felt the heat, not from the water, but from the apex between my legs. I took a deep breath as I allowed my left hand tweak at my clit and then draw small circles to stimulate me. It wasn't enough though. I imagined that it wasn't my hand, that it was his. I imagined how his calloused fingers would feel on me. How they would feel filling me. My body screamed for it and I wanted to do anything to make it a reality. I didn't care about the consequences, at least not in this moment. I was full of lust. My thoughts, my dreams, and my wants were full of him.

I dipped a finger inside of myself feeling a rush of adrenaline. I have known about masturbating since I was young, but it was something a lady never done. Something I've never done. I reveled in the feeling, in the passion I felt for it. I moaned deeply when I pulled my finger out and pushed it back in feeling my walls snuggly have a hold on it. I wiggled the finger deep inside of me adjusting to the foreign feeling and gasped when I felt something spongy when I curled my finger. I had no idea what I had done, nor did I care, I just knew it felt amazing and I had to do it again.

My right hand abandoned my breast and I brought it down to my clit to stimulate me further. I needed more, I don't know what really, but it wasn't enough. My body felt like it was about to burst. I couldn't remain quiet. I felt my moans come out and I did everything I could to keep them quiet. I started to pump my finger faster and decided to add another one stretching my walls further. I curled my fingers again searching for that spot that made me see stars and when I found it I was done. With a silent scream my body exploded and I felt white heat run through me, my vision disappearing for a moment. I have never felt an orgasm before, but if it was like that then I could get used to it. I was going to soak a little longer not entirely sure how long I've already been in my bath when I heard something fall in my bed chamber.

"Virgo? Is that you?" There was no response and I got nervous. "Virgo?" This time I said it louder.

"Uh, no." I heard Natsu's voice. Fuck! Did he hear me masturbating? Why did he have to break in when I was in the bathroom? Again!

I quickly dried off and threw my nightgown on leaving the bath chamber. "What the hell Natsu?" I wasn't sure if it was a question or a exclamation, but I was slightly annoyed. "How did you get in here?"

His hand was rubbing the back of his head while he had a goofy grin on his face trying to move away from my attack. "Uh, the door?" He let out a chuckle as he pointed to the closed bedroom door. I started at it for a moment.

"You didn't come from the balcony?" I remembered earlier events and realized I was happy he didn't take the outside route incase there was any danger.

"No, I didn't want to get caught and murdered my Sparky or Titania." I had to remind myself that I was still annoyed that he snuck in and he may or may not have heard me masturbating just moments ago in the bath.

"How long have you been here?" I was going to hope for the most, even though I know he must have been here. "What fell?"

"I haven't been here too long." The clear blush on his face gave me all the answer I needed and I felt horrified. Well, I should have at least. A part of me felt thrilled that he had heard. A part of me got a spark deep in my belly that he knew what I was doing. A part of me wanted to use that and see what would happen.

My thoughts scared me and I looked down immediately. We were both engaged to other people. There were so many emotions running through me; anger inside of myself, jealousy that he wasn't mine, and sadness that I couldn't make him mine.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He lifted my chin so we were looking in each other's eyes. I wanted to be selfish and tell him what was wrong, but I couldn't find the words. "Is it because I snuck in, I'm sorry!" I sobbed harder at his apology. "Please stop, I'll do anything to get you to stop crying, I can't seeing these tears." He pulled me into a tight hug and I melted into it, not realizing how much I needed the connection to him. I tried to talk, but it just came out hiccups and intakes of breath. He bent down and pulled me into his arms carrying me over to the bed. "Relax, I'm not going anywhere." That was the major problem. He eventually would me going somewhere. I needed to be home by June, which meant our time together was limited. I would be going home to my ball and announced as engaged.

"I don't want you to go." He looked at me confused for a moment.

"I just said I was going to stay Luce." He stroked my hair calming my sobs and helping me relax in his arms.

"Not right now, in general. I don't want to see you leave." There was a light in his eyes as understanding dawned on his face. He pulled me into him placing my body on top of his.

"I don't want to us to be separated for a moment either. I have never felt this way for anyone, you are my entire world Luce." His arms were wrapped around me tightly molding my body on top of his and that's when our position dawned on me. I was on top of him. Our bodies were flush. We both cared deeply for each other. He knew what I did in the bathroom and he wasn't running out the door in horror, instead he was bashful about it with his blush. I didn't think I was wrong in the assumption that we both wanted each other. We wanted more than our talks. I had to be confident though.

I took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes. "I was thinking of only you while I was taking my bath." I didn't want him to have an ounce of confusion in my meaning. The only thing I hoped for was that he did over hear me at this point and did look at me like I was insane and question what I meant. I didn't think that would be a problem though because I watched his cheeks turn red and his eyes grow large. I was worried for a split second when nothing happened and we just looked at each other, but that didn't last. We flipped so fast that I wasn't aware I was on my back until his lips descended onto mine.

We both moaned at the first contact and I felt a fire take over my body. I wanted this so bad. I assured myself I wouldn't allow it to get further than a kiss or maybe two. We couldn't diminish our names in high society. It couldn't go farther than that. That didn't mean I couldn't enjoy his kisses now.

AN: First, I'm sorry this is late. I had a horrible weekend and yesterday was even worse. I took my cat in for a check up and had to do a blood panel so I expected at most everything would cost me $200…. Which the initial visit did, but he has kitty herpies, which for cats and some other animals works as an upper respiratory infection. His was flaring like crazy (which is the main reason I brought him in) and found out he had a huge infection in his mouth. He needed surgery and my $200 visit ended up being $1400 all together. Luckily I get a bonus from work this week, but sadly that money was going to go to two different vacations I was going to be taking so now I don't get to go. My father, who lives 1500 miles away convinced me to do a gofundme, but I hate the idea of asking others for money.

ANYWAY, enough with my sap story because I love my cat and happy that he got the treatment he needed and is relatively healthy. I will get you your next chapter ON TIME next week and it will be a Natsu chapter so I hope you all look forward to it. Have a wonderful week 3 3 3

Also, thank you for all the new favorites, follows, and reviews. I love it all.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: I do not own anything in the Fairy Tale Universe. The plot is my own, but that is all.**

Summary: When there was Royal fame there came royal responsibilities. Responsibilities that required sacrifice and sometimes pain. Sometimes though those responsibilities turned into passion, into love. Follow Princess Heartfilia and Prince Dragneel through their adventure of surprise and spontaneity.

AN: This is an alternate universe fic where their wont be magic and some people don't know each other or aren't related. (i.e Lisanna, Elfman, and Mirajane). It is going to mainly be rated M because of language in the beginning, but there will be more lemon once the story picks up momentum.

Smutty chapter – be warned

Prior Engagement

Chapter 7: The Taste of Your Kiss – Natsu

My guard had just wished me a good night and closed me in my room. I always felt trapped when I was by myself. I didn't know what it was, but I was just missing something. I hated the feeling. I needed an escape. I walked over to my closed balcony doors and went to open them stopping only when Laxus' words ran through my head. They were worried about someone near the estate. Now, generally I wouldn't care about something like that, but I cared for Luce's safety and didn't want to give anyone an easy way in to put her in any harm. I sighed and stared at the front door. I guess I would have to do this the old fashion way.

I quietly opened the door to my bedchamber hoping that the door would not make a noise to alert my guard and was ecstatic that it opened without incident. I nervously looked around the hallway however just incase. I knew that Erza liked to wander the shadows to scan for threats. Secretly, I think she was just hoping to find anything that she could punch. I stifled my laugh at the thought and made my way out of the hallway and to the large open way that brought me to a different wing in the estate. I was starting to know this estate as if it were my own. I didn't have clue where I was going to go, but I was just going to let my feet do the work for me.

I turned a corner and internally cursed. Throwing myself in the darkness, I prayed that I wasn't seen by the revenge happy, pink haired maid of Luce's. I didn't think she saw me because her face was towards the grown, but you couldn't be too careful. Should I sneak a peak to see or wait until she walked by? I wasn't one for patience so I of course tried to sneak a peak down the hallway.

"Hey Natsu. Lucy is not in the shadow, were you looking for her?" She had a devilish smirk that made me feel uncomfortable on her face. There was a glint in her eyes that screamed that she was up to no good and it made me more nervous that if I had walked into Erza. In fact, in this moment I wish I had stayed in the safety of my room.

"Uh, no I was just wandering around. I didn't want to go to bed yet and figured I could use a walk to clear my head." I was being honest at least.

"Oh, well that's boring. Lucy's room is right down the hall and she should be finishing her bath shortly if you want to spend some time with her, it could be our little secret." She winked at me and I wasn't sure how to react. I mean, yeah, I wanted to spend time with Luce, but I didn't want to get us in trouble again. How could I pass this opportunity up though? I was literally being walked there. With a spark of excitement and nervousness in my belly I decided to see Luce instead of walk around. Not that I really had the choice. Virgo opened the door and pushed me in and then promptly closed the door back up leaving the two of us alone again. I tripped almost knocking everything off of her desk. Luckily however I caught myself.

I heard a whimper come from the bathroom and froze to make sure Luce was all right. I didn't want her to think I was evading her privacy so I stayed silent so she could stay relaxed in the bath. I heard her whimper again, but this time the whimper morphed into a long soft moan. I instantly felt myself tense. The sound was magic. I didn't even think it was possible for my dick to get this hard this fast. My hand slipped off of the table and I lost my balance as I face planted on the floor.

"Virgo? Is that you?" Fuck, I heard her voice and was panicked. Do I tell her I was there or stay silent? Leaving was off the table, I didn't think my legs would move that direction if I wanted them to. I was glued here. "Virgo?"

"Uh, no." My voice was weak and I knew it. I just hope she didn't think I was intentionally snooping on her. I had no intention of coming to her room. This was Virgo's work. In the back of my mind I loved and hated Virgo. In this moment I knew that her moans would never leave me. I wanted to hear more of them. I wanted to hear them from what I could do to her. I started to imagine her under me my mouth between her legs tasting her making her repeatedly scream my name and knew that this fantasy must be a reality some day. I would do whatever it took to make this happen. I was a prince for fuck sake, how could her father not allow me to take her hand. I didn't care that she was engaged to another. She would be mine in every sense of the word. I wanted Luce to be by my side. My thoughts however were interrupted when she stormed out of the bathroom in just her thin nightgown. My poor dick was in for a roller coaster ride.

"What the hell Natsu? How did you get in here?" She seemed pretty annoyed and I knew my response was just going to piss her off more. I watched her eye twitch with my response and chuckled.

"Uh, the door?" I pointed to the door to emphasize that there was, indeed, a passageway that would allow someone access.

"You didn't come from the balcony?" She sounded surprised.

"No, I didn't want to get caught and murdered my Sparky or Titania." She looked deep in thought for a moment.

"How long have you been here?" She asked, biting her lip. "What fell?" She looked around the room to access the damage, if any.

I didn't want to answer her question and tell her I was here when you apparently got to where you needed to be and I also didn't want to tell her that the shock made me fall on my face. So, instead I answered with, "I haven't been here too long." It was the truth at least. There were a lot of emotions running through her eyes and I was trying to notice all of them, but couldn't seem to catch up. Her face dropped and I watched as she then looked at the floor. My heart stopped when I heard her start to quietly cry.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I looked into her eyes searching for something, anything. "Is it because I snuck in, I'm sorry!" She started to cry harder. "Please stop, I'll do anything to get you to stop crying, I can't stand seeing these tears." I pulled her tightly into me and marveled at how well she fit my body; it was almost like we were made for one another. I rocker her softly as she tried to talk, but it only came out as a garbled mess full of hiccups and gasps of breath. I picked her up bridal style and carried her over to the bed. "Relax, I'm not going anywhere." There was a double meaning to this. I never wanted to leave her. She became everything to me.

"I don't want you to go." Her response confused me.

"I just said I was going to stay Luce." Her sobs started to slow down, thankfully and I stroked her hair trying to get her to relax.

"Not right now, in general. I don't want to see you leave." Understanding washed over me and I agreed with her. I pulled her body tighter against mine and lay on the bed allowing her weight to settle on top of me.

"I don't want to us to be separated for a moment either. I have never felt this way for anyone, you are my entire world Luce." I wanted to be honest with her. I knew it was selfish, but how many chances was I going to get?

Her next words however made my body tense. "I was thinking of only you while I was taking my bath." She knew I was there, that I heard. I felt my whole body heat up and I didn't know what to do. I wanted her more than I have ever wanted anything in my life, but she was forbidden. A part of me didn't care and the other part of me screamed to be responsible. I wasn't the most responsible type however and allowed the devil on my shoulder a win. I flipped us over and pressed my lips to hers. I moaned at the soft velvet texture of her lips and new I would never get sick of her lips on mine. The second she started to kiss me back my body was lit by fire that only she could distinguish.

"Luce." I growled and deepened the kiss. My tongue ran along hers and we started a battle of dominance. My hand curled in her hair and cradled the side of our face as I stole her breath away. It felt as if there were a dragon inside of me that I had just let out and all it wanted to do was claim her. We were both starting to pant at the exchange so I had pulled her mouth away from mine as I gently pulled on her hair tilting her neck up and allowing me open access to the delicate skin. I ran my tongue from her shoulder to her ear blowing gently to make her shiver. I chuckled as goosebumps made there way on her skin.

"Natsu." She sounded needy and I absolutely loved it. I gently kissed the skin right under her ear and started to nibble down the line I had made leaving light kisses here and there as I went. I found her pulse on her neck and started to suck on it, not hard enough to leave a hickey, but hard enough to make her squirm. I loved how responsive she was to me, however I felt my pants become painfully tight. She rolled her hips into mine and we both moaned at the sinful friction it brought. Shit, I wanted her.

"Luce!" I was breathless at the act. We were walking on dangerous ground. I looked in her eyes for a moment and the world seemed to pause. This was a turning point. This was where we had to make a decision. Did we want to defy everything we were both brought up on, our honor? "We don't have to go further then this." I kissed the side of her mouth. She followed my lips with hers and tried to close the distance before I had pulled away, but this was an important decision. I wanted her permission before doing anything. I wanted to touch her.

"I want you." She was breathless. She was high on the adrenaline running through her veins and I understood the feeling. She opened her mouth and started to say something, but then abruptly closed her mouth again.

"What?" I ran my nose along her jawline and touched her everywhere that was appropriate. My fingertips ran across her stomach and sides completely avoiding any area that would prompt a controversy.

"We can't have sex." She sounded crestfallen. I was too, but she was right. I ran soft kisses on her neck and jaw letting her finish talking. "There are plenty of things we can do instead though." Her blush probably matched mine. "I don't really know what to do though, everything I know is all talk." I was in the same boat. I knew a lot, but have never done any of it. She had given me the permission I was longing for however and I was eager to show her how much she meant to me.

"How about I show you what I know from the talk of the men around me and you relax?" She giggled at my proposal and it was music to my ears. "Let me know what you like and don't like and if I go too far let me know and I will stop." She nodded softly still looking slightly conflicted. "We won't do anything you don't want to do Luce. Do you trust me?"

She smiled at me. It was a heart-melting smile that would have brought me to my knees if I were standing. "I trust you Natsu. I want you. Please, I will tell you if we need to stop, but I beg you to touch me right now." Her words were a plea that I was more than happy to comply.

"As you wish." I dipped my head back down taking her mouth in a deep and passionate kiss. My hands that were being innocent took a turn to follow the devil on my shoulder's advice. I start to inch up her nightgown allowing my fingers to caress the bare skin from underneath. She was wearing lacy panties. I couldn't see them because I was more focused on her face in the moment, but I knew that I didn't want them there. Internally I was a wild flame ready to explode. My fingers caressed the underside of her large breast and she gasped into my mouth. I started to play with her tongue with mine as she began to moan once I started to show attention to her perk nipple. I had to swallow her moans so no one would hear us.

She pushed me away for a moment and I was afraid she didn't want me to touch her anymore. "Luce?" She had a look in her eye that made me slightly scared. I was kneeling straddling her legs and her nightgown was pooled at her waist leaving her legs completely bare. She sat up kissing my cheek and then raised her arms winking at me. I finally understood what she was doing and I did as commanded. I pulled her nightgown off of her and was able to marvel at the beautiful curves that she had presented me. She was gorgeous. She was perfect. Her body screamed for me to touch her and I would do just that. I put my finger to my lips, smirked and said, "shh" while slowly making my way to her right breast with my mouth. I watched her bite her lip as I covered her nipple in my hot mouth and swirled my tongue around it stimulating it to get hard. I didn't want the other breast to feel neglected so I covered that one and kneaded softly so I didn't hurt her.

She was doing everything in her power to be quiet. I pulled my head away from her breast pushing her on her back once more so I had more room to work with. Once she was settled I swirled my tongue around her belly button and playfully blew gently making her giggle and squirm under me. I placed my hand on her hip and kept her down. My tongue was against her belly button and I slowly, torturously, moved it up making my way in the valley of her breasts. Once I got to her throat I left a kiss and started to kiss back down again. I grabbed both of her hands in mine and brought them above her head. "Do you trust me?" My chin was resting on her belly and I looked at her face through my salmon colored bangs.

"Yes, always." Her answer was breathless. I didn't let go of her hands, but started to kiss her again. First her right hip then her left. I started to drag my tongue at her waist just to tease her. I wanted her body humming in need. I knew I was going to need my hands to get to the prize my mouth was watering for so I dragged them slowly down her arms and across her neck. I flipped them over so my fingertips ran across her breasts and against her nipples to stop at the waistline of her panties. I looked in her eyes again making sure she was okay with me taking them off. She nodded and I quickly brought them down her legs. The carnal part of me really wanted to rip them off of her, but I knew that would be hard to explain.

I took my time moving up her legs kissing her ankle first, nipping at her calves, sucking on her inner thigh, which accidently left a mark and then stared at the prize I was ready to devour. I blew gently against her folds and watched as she arched her back. Her eyes were wide as they stared at me waiting to see what I would do and I smiled reassuringly at her. I placed my finger against my lips again reminding her to be quiet and then softly licked up her folds. She took a deep breath in and gasped. I opened the folds up and repeated the action except putting more pressure into the move. As soon as my tongue made contact with the bundle of nerves on top, which I was told was the clit she bucked. I knew I struck gold when I hit that. There was a lot of talk amongst the men in my kingdom and I was pretty sure I was well equipped to please Luce. I would make sure she got off at least twice before I would even allow her to touch me. I wanted this to be about her.

I gently sucked at the bundle distracting her from me pushing a digit in to her. I swirled my finger around give the small space a chance to adapt to me. Once I pulled it out her hips followed me as if she didn't want me to remove myself. Nipping at her right fold and not her clit I pushed the finger back in all the way to my knuckle. She moaned for me and my dick twitched. Her sounds were going to be the death of me. I continued my ministrations for a few moments before adding a second digit slowly not wanting to hurt her. She creased her face slightly as if she was in pain so I started to scissor my fingers stretching her. She began moaning in pleasure again with in seconds and I wanted to make her come undone. I started to suck harder on her clit and fuck her with my two fingers. I remember the boys saying something about a spongy area to look for by curling my fingers up, but I couldn't find it. I continued to look. My searching paid off because as soon as I did find it I felt her body tense.

Continuing to piston in her I hit that spot almost each time, I missed it a few times, but I at least knew were to look for it now. I wanted to push her off of the ledge I knew she was dangling off of and I nipped at her clit allowing my sharp teeth to give a little pain with the pleasure and that is what did it. Her face tensed up and she silently screamed while her back arched off of the bed. Her heels lifted off of the bed as well leaving her curled toes keeping her body there. I was happy with myself, but that was only the first orgasm, I wanted two. I didn't let her work down from her high, instead I started to kiss her as my fingers continued their assault faster than before.

She wrapped her leg around me while the other one stayed off to the side with her knee up in the air. "Natsu!" She was gasping my name repeatedly in between kisses. There was no voice behind it, just breathless gasps and I loved the way I had her. I wondered if I could add another finger and how she would react. She was tight as it was and I didn't want to hurt her. She started to arch her back and I decided against the action. Instead I brought my hand to her breast to pinch and pull at her nipples. I was looking for other ways to stimulate her. She was starting to get loud with her moans and I was scared that we might get caught. She understood the look in my eye and brought her mouth to my shoulder biting down. The bite startled me, but not in a bad way. I enjoyed the pain in brought. She licked at the wound that she inflicted and it kept her quiet enough so I allowed her to leave her marks on me. Her breath was fast and shaky and I knew she wasn't going to last long again. I twirled my fingers giving her a new feeling and felt her walls flutter around me. She was on the edge. I wanted to taste her though so before she came and pulled my fingers out getting a whimper from her.

The whimper turned into a low moan when I started to fuck her with my tongue instead. She was already past the point of no return so it took almost no stimulation for me to bring her there the second time. I felt her juices hit my tongue and it was my turn to moan. She tasted how I thought she would. Sweet with a hint of tang. I was so hard at this point that it was painful. I didn't want to pressure her into doing anything though so instead I kissed her allowing her to taste herself and went to roll over to hold her. As soon as I was on my side however she was moving to be on top of me. I was going to let her do what she wanted.

She started to kiss my neck trying to rip my clothes off of me and I helped pull my shirt off to give her access to my skin. I chuckled at how impatient she was. Her lips made there way across my chest nipping at my nipples and abs. She didn't miss a single crevice on my chest. Everything was kissed or licked. Now I know how she must of felt when I was kissing and licking her. This was torture. She nipped at my hips while she undid my slacks. I helped her pull them down and off and she didn't waste time with my legs instead taking my dick into her mouth. She gagged slightly and I looked at her in concern, but that didn't stop her. I watched as she took deep breath and repeated the action this time getting all of me in her mouth. I never felt anything like this. The heat surrounding me was insane. She hollowed out her cheeks and sucked on me as if she was trying to milk me for all I was worth. I knew I wasn't going to last long because I was already completely worked up.

"Luce!" I gasped at her actions. Her hair started to fan over my thighs tickling me and getting in her way. I gathered the blonde locks and used them as reigns. I started to get a flow with her movements and helped pushed her head down and up by her hair. She didn't seem bothered by it. In fact, I accidently tugged a little too hard and instead of her pulling away she moaned. The moan almost made me loose it. The vibration against my dick sent shockwaves through out me. I started to be a little rougher for her to do it again. She started to growl, which was a trait I had taught her and my eyes rolled back into my head. "Luce, I'm going to cum." I said it softly, breathlessly. She didn't stop. She started to suck harder. I didn't want to choke her, but the fact that she wanted me to cum in he mouth was hot. It was only another moment until I did and she continued to suck on me as I convulsed. I watched as she swallowed what I had offered her and I wanted to kiss her. I didn't care if I would taste myself. I wanted to taste the mixture of both us. I still had the taste of her on my tongue.

We kissed for a little while coming down from our highs. I had no idea what time it was, but I knew it was late. Well past midnight and we both needed to be up bright and early and I needed to sneak back to my bedchambers.

"I don't want to go. I want to hold you for the rest of the night." I nuzzled her neck. Our legs were intertwined and my arms were wrapped around her holding her tightly to my chest and side.

"I don't want you to leave either, but if we get caught our guard will be furious. Well, at least I think they will be. Can I say something?" I looked down at her so our eyes would connect.

"Hm?" She bit her lip in nervousness and a blush made its way across her cheeks.

"I think I'm falling in love with you." Her confession brought butterflies to my stomach and adrenaline started pumping through me again. I felt the same way.

"I don't feel the same as you Luce, because it isn't a thought for me. I know I am in love with you." In the middle of my sentence I felt her start to pull away, but I held her tighter until she heard all of what I wanted to say. I sighed. "However, I do need to leave." I got up, kissing her nose before getting off of the bed to gather all of our clothes. I handed her the panties on the floor and her nightgown before putting my clothes on. "Sleep well Luce, I will see you in the morning." She walked me to the door and I silently crept out. I made it down the hall before walking into Laxus.

"Good morning Natsu." Fuck! My face paled and gave me a look that he clearly knew where I was. Plus my shirt was still untied.

"What are you doing up Laxus?" I tried to shrug him off so he wouldn't think anything of it.

"Well, with the camper situation I spoke to Erza and decided to do shifts where we would walk around and make sure everything remained alright. Didn't want you and Lucy to be in any danger, now do we?" He paused and let his hand come to my shirt moving it slightly to the side. My heart stopped. Luce left marks. I forgot all about them until this point. "It looks like your harmed. Should I have Erza look you over?" He knew he had me.

"Please don't tell Erza, she'll kill me!" His smirk became devious.

"What makes you think I wont? You forget whose charge she is." His eyes flashed with an emotion I wasn't sure of and I was terrified, perhaps I would rather have Erza.

"We didn't do anything that we both didn't feel comfortable with, I swear!" he grabbed my hair and started to drag me back to my bedchamber.

"Tell me, Pinkie, did you take her innocence?" He was so forward.

"No." My answer was simple. I wasn't going to share our details because they were private, but I knew he only had her protection in mind and that included the protection of her name.

He let go of my hair and looked me in the eye. "I'm proud of you." I was shocked. "Don't give me that look dumbass. I know she is in love with you. She wears her feelings on her sleeve. I also know that you would treat her right. This really shouldn't happen again though, do you understand?"

"No, we both love each other I don't understand." My voice got slightly higher and I knew I was drawing attention now by parties I didn't want involved, but it was too late. I watched as Erza's door opened.

"What is this about." Her sleepiness vanished when she noticed my state. "What is on your chest Natsu?" She came closer to inspect me and I tried to block her view, but it was to no avail. "Our these hickies and love bites?" She sounded incredulous and the blush on her face matched her hair. I watched as Gray and Gajeel smirked. "What did you do Natsu?" I wasn't sure how to respond, but unfortunately I didn't have to.

"You made it into the bunny den, huh flamebrain?" I glared at Gajeel and Erza's face went from red from embarrassment to anger quickly.

"Tell me it isn't true Natsu." I didn't say anything. I didn't want to lie, but I also didn't want to tell her anything that would embarrass Luce. My silence was answer enough.

"That's it, you have compromised your engagement because of this escapade. We will be saying our goodbyes tomorrow Natsu and leaving here the next day, do you understand?" My eyes flashed in anger.

"We will not." I generally didn't talk back to Erza. She was Titania for a reason, but I was in love with Luce and I didn't want to leave her.

"It wasn't up for a vote or a debate Natsu. You have done enough. You both or engaged and don't need to diminish your names with a fling." A fling? This wasn't a fling. I wanted Luce to be a princess in my kingdom. I wasn't going to walk away from her without a fight.

"You will do as you are told Natsu, now get some sleep. We have a lot to do tomorrow before we leave. You both have a lot of responsibility and one of them is to act like an adult and make wise decisions. You both have not done that. I made it quite clear that your names had to stay honorable and you disregarded my warnings so now we must part ways and allow time to pass so you don't make any more stupid decisions.

I went into my room and slammed the door. I didn't want to leave. I wanted to stay. Luce was going to be mad tomorrow and I was afraid of her finding out that we were caught.

AN: Thank you all for such kind words. Draco, my cat, is doing well and yes he was named after Harry Potter.

This story is going to be 20 chapters or less, not so sure where I will end it, but there is clearly some smut now for all your smut fans out there. I deviated from my outline writing this chapter. I was going to have Lucy stop before they did anything they regretted, but I am happy with what happened, I hope you are too and it doesn't seem rushed.

Well, once again thanks for any favorites, follows, and reviews. They all make my day and even though I don't comment each person on here, I do read them. I just don't like to take up all the space with that. Have a wonderful week see ya next weekend.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: I do not own anything in the Fairy Tale Universe. The plot is my own, but that is all.**

Summary: When there was Royal fame there came royal responsibilities. Responsibilities that required sacrifice and sometimes pain. Sometimes though those responsibilities turned into passion, into love. Follow Princess Heartfilia and Prince Dragneel through their adventure of surprise and spontaneity.

AN: This is an alternate universe fic where their wont be magic and some people don't know each other or aren't related. (i.e Lisanna, Elfman, and Mirajane). It is going to mainly be rated M because of language in the beginning, but there will be more lemon once the story picks up momentum.

Prior Engagement

Chapter 8: I want it to be you – Lucy

I woke up feeling happier than I ever have been before. I thought of the night prior and all the tender moments I spent with Natsu. It was enough to make my heart flutter and my stomach do flips. I couldn't exactly describe everything I was feeling, but I knew one thing was for sure. I wanted him to be the man I was to wed. I had no idea who my father chose for me, but I didn't care. I was in love with Natsu.

I allowed my fingertips to drag across my skin remembering his touches and trying to match them so they would be engrained in my memory for life. I could get use to this feeling. We could sneak around and do this again before he would have to go. I took long shallow breaths and kept my eyes closed enjoying the morning light warm my skin. The smile on my lips disappeared for a moment when there was a knock on my door. It startled me for a moment, but I assume that my morning fantasy had to come to an end eventually. "Princess, may I come in?" Virgo sounded unenthusiastic.

"You may come in." I responded to her with confusion lacing my voice. She was always upbeat and happy, why was she unhappy now? She walked in and I could tell that she had cried recently with the pink blotchy spots on her face and swollen eyes. Now I was really worried for her, before I could ask her what was wrong she had stepped into my closest to grab me some clothes. I waited patiently for her to come back out. "Virgo, what is bothering you?" She hung the outfit on a chair and walked into the bath chamber completely ignoring me. That wasn't like her at all. I wasn't going to be patient this time; I followed her into the bath chamber. "Virgo, what's wrong?" She gave me a discouraged look.

"You should relax in a warm bath for a bit and then I will take you to go see Laxus, will you be ready in an hour?" Why would I go see Laxus, I normally would go straight to breakfast.

"What is going on Virgo? Why do I need to see Laxus?" I watched a tear run down her cheek and ran over to give her a hug. I had no idea what was going on, but I could tell that it wasn't something that was good. It made my heart clench in fear and sadness. I had no idea why Virgo wasn't telling me what was going on, but I knew not to keep pushing her.

"Laxus requested council with you before breakfast would begin if that is alright Princess?" She was far too formal for me, but I nodded curtly.

"Certainly, Virgo, I will be quick. Please let him know I will be there to see him in a half hour. There is no reason to soak in the bath. I will quickly wash myself and get ready for the day." I also wanted to see Natsu so I didn't want to linger in my bedchamber without him here.

As soon as she left I stripped my clothes and got ready. I made sure to evaluate myself and look for any marks that Natsu may have left. I didn't want Laxus or Erza to see them just in case. I was pleasantly surprised that there were quite a few, but none of them were in view when I put my clothes on. I was nervous and felt my hands shaking. I didn't know why Laxus wanted to see me, but I had a feeling it was going to make me unhappy. That is the only explanation to how Virgo was acting. I stepped out of my room and saw Bickslow there with a solemn look on his face.

"What can you tell me?" He didn't say anything, just looked down. It had to be bad. Shit. "Alright well then take me to him. Let's get it over with now." He didn't even nod just walked with me to Laxus' bedchambers. He knocked lightly and then walked away once the door was open. Laxus had a bottle of whiskey open on his desk, which was another alert that something was wrong. He silently closed the door behind me.

"Please have a seat Lucy. We need to talk for a moment." As soon as I was pushed into the chair my mouth went off on it's own.

"No one will tell me what's going on, tell me now!" It was a command. I was more than annoyed at this point. There was no reason that secrets should be held.

He winced slightly at my outburst. "We know about last night." He paused for a moment letting me understand what he meant. There was a deep blush on my face and I gripped the dress against my sides. "I want you to be happy Lulu, but you both have engagements to other people and Erza decided that it would be best for you two to separate. What happened last night was foolish." I felt the instant my heart stopped. What did he mean that he was going to leave? "If it were up to me, I would let you two do what you want because you both are adults, but Erza does not feel the same way." My mind was reeling.

I felt like I couldn't breath. My chest was tight and my thoughts stilled. There was only one thing running through me. "Have they left yet?" I felt the unshed tears building in my eyes and I didn't know what to do. I've never felt this way for someone. Laxus had a look in his eye that I've never seen before.

"No, they will be gathering everything today and then tomorrow morning they will head out." He sighed. "You care deeply for him, don't you?" He sounded slightly defeated. I didn't say anything. In all honesty, I was sure what to say. I just made eye contact with him allowing a tear to fall. The sadness started to morph into anger. Anger at Erza. This was an emotion I didn't feel too often.

"Why don't you tell Natsu who you really are, maybe we can do something? Perhaps your father will make an exception?" I snorted, which was very unladylike and got out of my seat.

"Maybe my father will make an exception? Did you really just say that? Has my father ever made an exception?" Laxus sighed because I was right. My father has never made an exception, not with anything. "Besides, why tell him? He will be leaving tomorrow and I will most likely never see him again because I will be planning a ball and then meeting my fiancé, remember?" I could feel the heat in my face. I wasn't sure if it was from anger or my sadness, but I knew my face was red.

"Lulu, maybe him leaving will be for the best, it's not like you to act this way." I stopped for a second to take in his words. Act this way? How exactly was I acting? Was this because I was showing more emotion than I usually did? His words made me angrier. There was a boiling point in me that broke. I grabbed the door and whipped it open. I didn't even flinch when I heard it smack into the wall. I heard him call back to me, but I didn't care I wanted a word with Erza. I made my way over to their wing and was stopped by Grey.

"Lucy, right now isn't a good time." He looked like he had a hard morning and I would have generally backed down to give him a break, but I was on a mission and I was not backing down for anything.

"Gray," I said it sweetly, with a smile on my face. "If you do not want to be unconscious on the floor, I suggest you move out of my way. You are not the one I want to see, Erza is." I watched his eyes widen and for a second I didn't think he was going to move out of my way, but he did.

"Already, fair warning though, she's beyond upset." I nodded curtly at him and finished my walk to her room. I knocked twice waiting for her to open the door. It only took a moment and when she did there was anger in her eyes. For a second I thought that I was making a mistake, but if I didn't fight for the person I was falling in love with than what was the point in fighting?

"Lucy, this isn't a good time." I heard someone's fist hit the wall, most likely putting a whole into it. I was at a crossroads, I could do this the princess way where I was calm and collected, or I could do this the bitch way. I went bitch.

"Well, luckily for me, you are still a guest in my home and I don't necessarily care if this is a good time, because you've deemed yourself the one in charge and decided that our time was over." I pushed the door open effectively pushing her out of the way. My eyes locked with Natsu's and I could see that they were swollen. He had cried. That made me more livid. He was fighting to stay as well. He turned away from me, most likely so I wont see any weakness in him, which I found silly. I didn't see emotions as a weakness, they were strength and they gave us all power. Unfortunately for Erza though, I was beyond words. I wanted to kick her ass. I knew I couldn't, well shouldn't would be a better word.

I whirled around to face her. She had a scowl on her face most likely from my invasion. "How dare you?" Her eyes got wide and I heard Natsu gasp. I knew that no one talked back to Erza because of her power, but I didn't give a shit about that. She had no right playing ruler. I easily out ranked her and she knew it.

"Lucy, please listen to reason." To reason? Fuck reason! She closed the door so we could talk.

"You are his charge, not his mother. You are also only a guest in my home so please do not act as if you are above me." She stopped in shock. "What we do is none of your concern! We are both adults. If Natsu wishes to stay longer it is not your right to tell him he can not!" Erza looked down struggling with her words.

"We must go, we will be leaving tomorrow Lucy. Staying would be a bad idea for both of you. It is a good idea to cut ties now before you two get hurt worse than you already will be. I wish I could see you two together, I do, and I will speak to Natsu's father when I get home, but as it is his father is rather stubborn and will not bend. He has chosen a wife for Natsu and I do not see him altering any views. I can tell that you two care deeply, maybe even love each other, but once away you can learn to love who you are set to marry instead." I knew she was right, I knew that doing what we had made it worse for us, but I wanted to be with Natsu.

"I don't care about the person I am meant to marry, I don't even know them. I don't even know their damn name!" I hate this!" I felt my legs give out and I started to kneel and then collapse on the floor. The tears that were trying to escape earlier finally broke and I couldn't get them to stop even if I wanted them too. Erza went to console me, but I heard a distinctive growl before I felt familiar arms wrap around me tightly.

"I'm sorry Luce, really I am." He nuzzled his face into my hair. "You mean as much to me as I mean to you, but they are right. The longer we are together the harder it will be for us when we do have to marry others." I gripped onto his shirt wrinkling his clothes in my closed fists. I understood where everyone was coming from, I did. That may have been why it hurt as much as it did. There was a thought though that made me slightly terrified. "I am thankful for feeling your love and will cherish that feeling until the day I die." His words matched my thoughts. What if I married someone that I hated? What if I never get to feel that love again? I couldn't handle it anymore. I needed to get away from everyone. I pushed Natsu away from me and ran out of the room. I heard them both call back to me, but I didn't stop. I needed to be left alone and there was only one place that would work. I watched as Evergreen went to follow me, but was stopped by Laxus. I knew one of them would be watching me, they wouldn't let me leave on my own, but I respected the fact that they were going to allow me to be by myself.

"What am I going to do?" I sighed as I walked over to the stables. I would be left alone here. I thought about everything. My life as it is now, my, my future as ruler of my kingdom, my soon to be husband that I haven't met yet, and what I wanted in the moment. I'm not sure how long I've been out here, but if the growling in my stomach was any indicator it was a while. I was starving, which meant whoever was watching over me was probably cussing me out too. I silently laughed as I got up. I knew what I needed to do; I just hope I don't get caught.

I skipped all of my lessons today. I knew Freed was going to be upset with me, but Natsu was confined to his room and I was just not in the mood for the lectures. It was time for dinner. "Ready to go?" Laxus was with me since I left the stables and let Bickslow go do what he wanted to do. He attempted to speak to me, but got nothing in return. It wasn't like me to be petty or hold grudges, but I needed to be by myself and figure everything out. I had already decided that I was going to leave soon myself and just put my heart into the ball. I needed to get my mind stuck on one goal and that would be putting respect into my mother's life and what she lived for.

We were the last one to walk into the dining area. Erza didn't make eye contact with me, which was probably for the best because I still wanted to kick her ass. In fact, the only one who looked me in the eye was Natsu. He had a devastated look on his face that I knew as well as him. I gave him a small smile, which he returned, forcefully. I wanted to sit next to him, but Erza and Gray decided to sit beside him. I had written him a letter earlier in the day that I needed to give him and in order for me to do it without them seeing it I had to do it under the table.

"I hope it won't be too troublesome, but I wish to sit next to my guest if one of you don't mind?" I said it casually. They both got up quickly allowing me to make a seat selection, I chose Erza's mainly because I wanted to give her the harder time. I watched the smirk on Natsu's face grow. He loved my little power trip. I was okay with that. It didn't happen often, but today I was on a roll so I might as well stick to it. I bowed my head slightly at Erza as she took her new seat. "Thank you very much." I knew I was treating her unfairly, this wasn't her fault really, she was just trying to do what was best for everyone involved.

As we ate our dinner I dropped my hand to my thigh pushing up on my dress to get the note stuck on my garter. I watched everyone to see if anyone had noticed my actions. The only one who seemed to notice I even moved was Natsu and he was giving me a strange look. I winked at him and speared a brussel sprout and popped it in my mouth to bring his attention on to something besides my hiked up dress. He must have understood because he went back to eating as well. His hand however landed on my thigh. I almost chocked on my food at his actions. He was being bold. I almost forgot about the note entirely when he started to run his calloused thumb along my thigh making a circle pattern. I stopped him and pushed the note into his hand. Before I brought both hands above the table again I squeezed his hand and then didn't look at him again for the rest of the dinner.

The guard made small talk knowing that they would most likely not see each other again. I felt bad for them all. We all made bonds. This wasn't fair. As soon as dinner was over I brought Natsu into a tight hug. His warmth made my heart stutter. "Open it only when you are alone in your room." I whispered in his ear and he nodded in understanding slightly making it look like he was nuzzling my hair and my neck. We pulled apart slightly, just enough for him to kiss my forehead and walked away following Erza to their rooms.

"I will see you all before you leave in the morning." It was Erza who stopped and looked over at me.

"Of course Lucy!" She smiled friendly at me. "We will make sure to thank you for all of your hospitality. We will not leave without saying goodbye." I smiled at her, it wasn't as warm as it should have been, but at least I was polite. Little did she know that I was going to be saying goodbye to Natsu in my own way. I walked quietly with my guard back to my room. Virgo was already there waiting for me.

"I am sorry Princess. It was my actions that made them decide to have Natsu leave." I didn't understand what she was talking about. Apparently my look of confusion dawned on her as well. "It was my idea for him to sneak into your room last night. I just wanted both of you to be happy. You are so happy together and I thought it would be good for you too." Maybe this would work after all.

"Virgo, do you know who has first tonight?" She paused.

"Why?" She had a suspicious look on her face and I chuckled.

"Well, I want to say goodbye to Natsu in my own way. Can you help me?" She looked nervous for a moment.

"I don't know Princess? What if something were to happen? I don't want you to get in any trouble." I knew that if anyone would understand me it would be her.

"Virgo, I'm in love with Natsu, I may never feel love with whoever I am suppose to marry, at least now I have a chance. I want to spend one night of my life knowing that feeling and I know that Natsu can give that to me. We are not leaving the estate I am just going to go sneak into his room for a change." She had a conflicted look on her face and for a moment I was scared that I wasn't going to win her over. She looked me in the eye then.

"You are a young woman and deserve to be happy. I will make sure you get what you want Princess." I was cheering on the inside. "What do you need me to do?" I smiled at her.

"I just need you to create a distraction long enough for me to sneak out. I can handle the rest." She nodded and went to leave. "Ugh, Virgo, can you do one more thing for me?"

"Anything, just name it." A blush made it's way across my face.

"Can you possibly make me a potion for tomorrow morning?" She looked shocked at me for a moment and then smiled, nodded and walked out of the room. I heard her talking to Evergreen. They were discussing a painting on the wall. A painting I knew full well was facing away from my door. I snuck out and tip toed down the hall until I turned the corner and made a run for it. I didn't slow down until I was near the hallway Natsu was in.

"I don't really understand this shit, if they two of them want to be with each other who are we to step in their way. They already have enough problems with their arranged marriages. The high class is just fucked up!" I heard Gajeel chatting with someone; I was hoping it wasn't Erza.

The other person sighed, "I hear ya, hell, I would love for him to get laid. Maybe it would get rid of some of that pent up energy of his, but you know the rules. We must not let him sneak out and see her." Perfect, I knew without a doubt they wouldn't cause too much trouble. They wanted us to be happy and they would still be following their orders. I quietly walked over to his bedroom.

"I think we have a lost bunny roaming around." Gajeel chuckled at me.

"I overheard you guys, now I suspect that you aren't opposed to me sneaking into his room, is that correct?" I was bold on the outside, but on the inside I was a nervous wreck.

"Sorry, Luce, we can't let that happen, we have orders." Gray looked a little sad that he was saying that.

"What exactly are your orders, boys?" I'm hoping they were exactly what they had just said.

"We have to make sure that Natsu doesn't sneak out and spend time with you in your chambers." Gray's eyes got large when he figured out my ploy.

"So, me sneaking into his chambers weren't off limits, correct?" His smile grew.

"You're too clever for your own good, I hope you know that, but you are correct. How did you get over here without getting caught anyway?" I smiled innocently at him.

"That's for me to know, now if you don't mind, I have some business with the man behind this door. He should be waiting for me." They both chuckled. I gently knocked on the door and it was opened instantly bringing me in. I heard Gajeel saying someone about him knowing that I was up to something at dinner and I smiled at the conversation they were having before I couldn't hear them anymore. As soon as the doors closed Natsu's lips were on mine. He held my face in both of his hands and the passion he was giving me was something beyond words.

"This is such a bad idea." He said it, but I could tell he didn't care if it was a bad or good idea. We both wanted this to happen.

"I don't want to wait for someone I don't love to have all of me. I want it to be someone I love, someone who deserves it. I want it to be you, Natsu." His arms snaked around me pushing me gently into the wall. I hiked my leg up hooking it on his hip. He growled at the act and pushed our bodies closer.

"Are you sure about this? What about your marriage night? Won't they think poorly on this?" His mouth was on my neck and my head was tilted to the side to give him all the room he needed. For someone who was trying to talk me out of it he was steadily unbuttoning my dress from the back. I giggled at him.

"I'm positive, now shut up and use your mouth for better reasons." He chuckled and started to kiss me again. He finished the buttons and slid the dress down my arms. It pooled around my feet. His hands started to caress my back and his kissed began to get more heated. Our tongues didn't fight for dominance instead they danced together in perfect harmony. His hands gripped my thighs and he pulled me into him lifting me off of the floor and over to his bed. I wrapped my arms around his neck and squealed slightly when I was no longer planted on the ground. I thought I was going to be scared, but I was excited. I wanted this.

With a bold effort I pulled his shirt off of him, pretty aggressively, and started to undo his pants, thankfully he wasn't wearing his whole outfit. As soon as his pants were unbuttoned my hand made it's way in and a gripped his length. His moans were breathy and low. He grabbed his pants at his hips and forced his pants off giving me full access to him. I flipped us over and ground myself onto him. His head fell back at the friction and we both moaned.

"No." He flipped us back over gently. "I don't want this to be fast and hard. This is our first time; this is most likely our only time together. I want it to be special." His words were melting my hard. He didn't understand, but this was already special because it was with him.

"Okay, slow then. Can you slowly take my panties off, or should I slowly do it?" He chuckled at my impatience and made quick work of the undergarment. Now I was completely bare to him. He started to kiss me again and allowed pushed my thighs apart with his hand. I started to protest because I didn't want the foreplay, I just wanted him mainly because we didn't know how long we would have.

"Shhh." He shushed me with a kiss. "I want to stretch you a bit so it doesn't hurt as bad." I didn't even think of the pain. Oh shit, the first time hurt. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. That nervous feeling that I swore I didn't have hit me like a ton of bricks. "Relax." I must have tensed. "I will be gentle. I want you to enjoy it just as much, just let me do what I want, okay?" He kissed my forehead before spearing two fingers in me scissoring them to stretch my walls.

"I trust you, do what you need to." He gently kissed my pulse point on my neck and started to twirl his fingers around taking his time. "That feels really good, strange, but good." He checkled.

"I bet I could make it feel better?" He winked at me as his pushed his body down. His face went between my thighs and he started to suck on my clit. I almost screamed, but caught myself just in time. I bucked him hips and cried out slightly. At this rate I wasn't going to last long. "I want you to cum for me Luce." He nipped at the inside of my thigh as he went back to scissoring me. He started to kiss and suck at my clit making me squirm and follow his mouth with my hips. I just wanted to flip us over and ride his face. His tongue was so good. I felt myself come undone and melted into his bed.

I felt his penis rub against my and I was instantly alert again. "Are you sure about this Luce?" I was.

"Yes, I want you." He ran his penis up and down my slit to coat it with my juices before placing it against my opening. He kissed me deeply as he slowly started to insert himself. He made it about two inches before stopping and allowing me a moment to adjust. It was painful, but I didn't want to dwell on it. Something that I was told repeatedly was to relax and not to tense. I did just that and when it started to feel a little better I moved him hips to allow him to move again. He stopped again when he felt resistance.

"I'm going to just break it and then I will stop once I'm fully in you. You just let me know when you are ready okay?" He started to put light kisses on my face and didn't go until I nodded. It was over within in seconds. Just like that I was no longer a virgin. I felt a tear leak from my eye but it was kissed away almost as soon as it made an appearance. I was looking up, but not at anything in particular. It took me a few moments to get accustomed to his size and I had to admit he had a lot more patience than I would have given him credit for. He did exactly what he said he would. He waited for me to allow him to move. I moved my hips hoping the pain wouldn't flair and for the most part it didn't. There was pain, but there was pleasure that lingered there as well. It was a mix that I wasn't accustomed to. I felt full.

We both rocked against each other taking it nice and slow. Neither of us wanted it to end knowing that it would never happen again. "Luce!" He moaned into my ear. I knew that he was close. His breathing picked up and his face was flushed. "I don't know how much longer I can last." He pushed his hand between us and started to stroke my clit with his calloused fingers as he started to push in harder and faster. "This feels so good." He panted between words and they came out breathy, but I understood him perfectly. His fingers were bringing me to my edge as well. I felt my walls begin to flutter and that was enough to bring him metaphorically to his knees. I felt the spurt of warm cum coat the inside of me and it was enough to bring me over the edge as well.

His forehead leaned against my own for a short amount of time before he pulled out of me. I whimpered at the sore feeling and noticed a little red on his member that dripped on my thigh. "I'm sorry, was I too rough?" He was worried about the blood.

"No, it's most likely because it was my first time and you are pretty large." He smiled and grabbed a washcloth from his bath chambers. He soaked it in the warm water before bringing it back to clean me. "You don't need to do that!" Him cleaning me was embarrassing. Not the sex, but him seeing to my mess. He chuckled at me.

"Oh stop, I made the mess, the least I can do is clean it." He winked at me making me blush further. I looked away as he cleaned himself off next. When he crawled back into bed he wrapped me in his arms and pulled me to him. "Will you stay the night with me?" I knew that no matter what we were going to get in trouble and that everyone would know soon enough so I didn't see the point in leaving.

"Yes, I do want to dress though so when they come to wake you up we aren't naked." He chuckled at me.

"That is a good idea." We dressed in silence and laid back down on the bed together. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, but at least we had tonight.

AN: I hope this chapter answered some questions I keep getting. mainly the "are they engaged?" question. I thought it was clear, but what's in my head doesn't always translate through text. To be clear though, they do not know whom they are engaged to, only their fathers know.

I hope everyone had a good week. I am actually off a weekday this week, so I am hopefully going to post early. Plus I am going out of town in two weeks for a long weekend and again in the beginning of March so I will do my best to stay on top of everything.

For all the football fans out there – Go Eagles. (My team is horrible and will never go to the super bowl so….)


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